The fundamental flaw in how European clubs utilise the Portuguese transfer market

There is a fundamental flaw in the way in which the major European clubs utilise, and thus fail to exploit, the Portuguese market - to the considerable benefit of the ‘Big Four’ in the country.

It is increasingly commonplace for clubs from across the continent to dip into the Portuguese Primeira Liga to snap up some serious talents, with big names such as Angel Di Maria, Falcão, Pepe, Ederson, Jan Oblak, João Felix and Renato Sanches - to name but a few - moving abroad for massive financial profits before making a name for themselves elsewhere. They all have one thing in common, though: they all moved abroad from one of the traditional Big Three in Portugal, with players from outside this elite trio very rarely being sold to big European clubs for substantial profits.

That said, often these players are actually first identified at, and brought in from, one of the less reputable teams from within the Portuguese game, clubs that typically finish in 5th position and downwards in the Portuguese football pyramid - and Europe’s elite clubs constantly overlooking some of the quality in the rest of the Portuguese league is ultimately ensuring that they end up having to spend far more money than they would actually need to if they were paying attention.

Indeed, often these so-called smaller football clubs, with much smaller financial resources, end up acting as feeder clubs for the Big Four of Benfica, Braga, Porto and Sporting, with little-known stars proving themselves for the likes of Rio Ave or Maritimo or Santa Clara, before then being snapped up by one of the aforementioned four powerhouses of Portuguese football for sums that are pretty negligible for themselves, but are highly significant for the selling teams.

This financial disparity means that the likes of Benfica, Porto and Sporting are able to sign highly promising players from their own domestic league for fees significantly lower than 10 million euros - even when in reality the players could be worth three or four times that valuation - while it is not uncommon for these unearthed gems to then be sold on for fees of 20, 30 or even 40 million euros just a couple of season later.

Let’s take Pepe as an example. The legendary Portuguese centreback had an exceptional season with Maritimo in 2003-04 as he helped them to a 6th place finish in the league before Porto swooped in and signed him on a free transfer in the summer of 2004. They went on to sell him to Real Madrid for 30 million euros 3 years later.

Ederson is another. Signed by Benfica from Rio Ave for a tiny fee (with Rio Ave retaining some economic rights) after an impressive campaign, Ederson went on to prove one of the best goalkeepers on the planet, and Benfica went on to sell him to Manchester City for 35 million euros.

You can say the same for Fabio Coentrao. Signed by Benfica from Rio Ave for under a million euros after a strong season in the Portuguese second division, Coentrao established himself as a starter at the Lisbon giants a couple of years later, and went on to move to Real Madrid for 30 million euros.

There are plenty of other examples. Ricardo Pereira spectacularly won the Portuguese Cup with Guimaraes, scoring 6 goals in 6 games in the process, ensuring Porto snapped him up for free. He impressed while on loan at Nice and also at Porto, earning him a 22 million euro move to Leicester.

Raphinha’s another. He was actually quite expensive in 2018, Sporting CP paying 6.5 million euros to Vitoria Guimaraes for his services, but he proved worth the outlay, and Sporting went on to sell him to Stade Rennais for over three times what they paid for him - 21 million euros - just one year later.

The list goes on. Bosingwa. Cost Porto 1 million euros when they bought him from Boavista. They sold him to Chelsea for 20.5 million. Paulo Ferreira. Bought from Vitoria Setubal for 2 million euros. Sold to Chelsea for 20 million. Danilo Pereira. Bought from Maritimo for 4.5 million euros. Sold to PSG for 16 million. Rafa Silva. Bought by Braga for less than 500,000 euros from Feirense. Sold to Benfica for 16 million euros. Paulinho. Picked up by Braga from Gil Vicente for free. Sold to Sporting CP for 16 million euros. Tiago. Signed by Benfica from Braga for 2.5 million euros. Sold to Chelsea for 15 million.

And those are just the particularly profitable players. There are several others who signed for one of the Big Four in Portugal from smaller clubs in the country for little to no money before having very good careers and being sold on for several million pounds profit.

It therefore begs the question: why are so many top European clubs waiting until these players move to Benfica, Porto or Sporting before swooping in to sign them? There is clear quality among the other Portuguese clubs in the league, but rarely are elite clubs outside Portugal willing to take the risk and sign a top-performing player from the lower end of the Portuguese top flight.

And it makes little sense. So much money could be saved if these European outfits were to cut out the middle man and sign players directly from the ‘smaller’ clubs in the Portuguese Primeira Liga. The risk would be very minimal too; most of these top players cost less than 5 million euros - for these top European clubs, it’s really not a significant sum of money, and it is always likely that they could end up selling these players for a very similar level to what they would buy them for even if the player(s) failed to live up to their potential.

Arguably the best current example is 22-year old Lincoln of Santa Clara. It has been suggested that the Azores outfit would be willing to listen to offers in the region of 3 or 4 million euros for him. The Big Three in Portugal have therefore inevitably been linked with him, as such a sum of money represents low risk, high reward on a player that has impressed since arriving in Portugal in 2019.

Similarly, Carlos Junior, also of Santa Clara*, is a player who has a big reputation in Portugal and has been linked with Benfica as a result. He would only cost 4 million euros, which could prove a bargain for the 25-year old. The team they are currently facing most competition from for his signature is Al Shabab. Why are big European clubs not showing interest? (*Carlos Junior has since joined Al-Shabab for a fee in the region of €3.5M).

We’ve seen it throughout this transfer window. Porto snapped up both Bruno Costa of Portimonense, who was sensational on loan at Pacos de Ferreira last season, for less than 2 million euros, and Fabio Cardoso from Santa Clara for a similar fee. Nobody would be shocked if they ended up being sold to clubs playing in one of the big four leagues for as much as ten times that valuation in a couple of years’ time.

European clubs have not been making the most of the Portuguese transfer market, which has very much been to the advantage of the biggest clubs in the country. When they start figuring out that there is such good value for money in the rest of the league, though, the likes of Benfica, Porto and Sporting may begin to find unearthing gems from their domestic game for cheap prices a little more challenging.

Carlos Junior. Photo author: Mr.Drax. License link.