[Sigh] That was a brutal end to last season, wasn’t it?
Anyway, welcome back to “The Sporting Life” – my Football Manager 2020 blog story with Sporting CP. My second year in Lisbon is about to get underway, and there has been some much-needed reshuffling after our sudden collapse in form last spring (which you can read about right here).
In today’s chapter, I will be summarising all the ins and outs from our summer transfer window. I’ll then reintroduce you to the first-team squad and go through our pre-season results before explaining our objectives for 2020/2021.
TRANSFERS OUT
We already knew that vice-captain Jérémy Mathieu was retiring, and that Jesé and Yannick Bolasie were returning to PSG and Everton respectively (Yannick’s ended up at Sheffield Wednesday, poor sod). With over 100 players on our books, though, an even deeper clear-out was necessary before the new season:
Most of the players we sold were reserves who were never going to trouble my first-team plans. They included forward Bruno Fernandes, who was nowhere near as talented as his namesake and went to a third-division club for slightly less than €60million.
Our biggest sale during the off-season was that of a player I never used. Like in real-life, Brazilian forward Matheus Pereira made his loan spell at West Brom permanent for €9.5million after a successful loan spell. Unlike real-life, the Baggies did not get promoted to the Premier League. They lost in the play-offs…
…as did Swansea, who brought Tiago Ilori back to Britain for €1.8million. While I did like the Nigerian international’s versatility at the back, Ilori just wasn’t mentally strong enough to justify a regular first-team place. He was also blocking the paths of our younger central defensive talents, so he had to go.
Fulham were promoted to the Premier League as Championship champions, and part of their inevitable transfer splurge saw them spend €9million on Cristián Borja. The Colombian left-back made nine assists for us last season (mostly in the cup competitions), but he had effectively been made redundant by a better, cheaper replacement.
There was no room for right-back Stefan Ristovski in my team, either. After three years in Lisbon, the hard-working Macedonian was packed off to Rennes for €3.9million. I then reluctantly took a big hit on attacking midfielder Francisco Geraldes, letting him join our Bogítimo for just €750,000 – less than half his valuation.
Our last significant sale was Eduardo Henrique, who just didn’t stand out amongst a talented crop of Sporting midfielders. Maybe I could’ve got more than €5.75million for the versatile Brazilian, but that was still nearly double what the previous regime paid for him 12 months ago. Don’t be shocked if Eduardo becomes a big hit at Famalicão and takes them into the top five.
I also loaned out a whopping 37 players – far too many to list them all here (I know my blogs posts are long, but not that long). A few are worth mentioning, though…
21-year-old playmaker Daniel Bragança is a real jewel from our youth system. He’s had a positive season on loan at Estoril Praia in the LigaPro, but isn’t quite ready to break into our first-team. Still, I could think of worse places for Bragança to begin his top-flight career at than Braga, who’ve finished 4th for the past three seasons.
Also getting regular Primeira Liga action this term will be the strong 18-year-old centre-half Gonçalo Inácio, who continues his footballing education at mid-tablers Tondela. Bruno Tavares also has 5* potential at 18, and I’ll be following the twinkle-toed attacker’s progress at Marítimo closely ahead of a potential first-team promotion next season.
Macedonian left-winger Dimitar Mitrovski is spending the year with newly-promoted Feirense, having provided eight goals and eight assists in a previous loan spell at third-tier Toreense. Meanwhile, defensive midfielder Rodrigo Fernandes‘ drive to improve should serve him well at Boavista.
A few players have been loaned abroad, including the unpredictable but spirited winger Rafael Camacho. He’s now playing Championship football for Lee Bowyer’s Charlton, where he’ll learn how to spearhead an attack – and preferably NOT how to settle arguments with your team-mates.
After scoring six times for Standard Liège at the back end of last season, Ecuador striker Gonzalo Plata is back in Belgium – this time spending a full campaign with Genk. In Germany, 20-year-old winger Elves Baldé has made a promising start at second-division Arminia Bielefeld, netting twice in his first two league outings.
TRANSFERS IN
After so many outs, there were only a few ins, and they all but depleted my transfer budget. Before I discuss our four newest first-teamers, I want to write about a couple of lads who we’ve signed for the long-term:
You might remember that João Lameira signed a pre-contract agreement with us in January and has now officially moved from Leiria. The 21-year-old will join our Under-23s squad for this season and could become a decent Primeira Liga player. Time will tell if he can make the grade.
I’m much more excited about Isaac Lihadji, who we poached from Marseille after his contract expired. The 18-year-old left-footed right-winger is quite pacey and agile and has fine dribbling ability too. If he fulfils his potential, you might be looking at a real bargain.
My first major signing of the summer was Real Sociedad left-back Kévin Rodrigues. Born in France but capped once by Portugal, Rodrigues spent last season on loan at a Legánes side who finished 10th in La Liga. He’s incredibly well-rounded, with no important attributes below 13, and his work ethic suits our style of play. Understand why I let Borja go now?
Ivan Petryak only cost us €2million, but the 26-year-old Ukrainian arrives from Hungarian side Fehérvár as – apparently – the best left-sided forward in the Primeira Liga. His pace, technique and intelligence can cause defences all sorts of issues. Once Ivan settles into the country, he could be amazing.
I then spent big on our defence, firstly forking out €12million for Basel centre-half Eray Cömert. This 22-year-old Switzerland international of Turkish heritage times his challenges well and is exactly the type of covering ball-playing defender we needed to replace Mathieu. He also has the professionalism and leadership skills to be a future captain of this club.
At right-back would be another young Turk in Zeki Çelik – aged 23, and capped 19 times by the Crescent-Stars. He was a regular starter for Lille in Ligue 1 last term, from whom we’ve signed him for €7million. Also note that his €32,500-per-week wages make him our new highest-paid player (though we paid Jesé and Bolasie more than that during their loans).
Admittedly, I have some doubts about Zeki’s concentration. Even so, his work rate and the danger he poses from crosses should override them.
SQUAD REPORT
So here’s an updated first-team squad report, with a full player list above. (Don’t worry that most of our players are ‘concerned’ about their playing time; that will change once we’ve got a few games under our belt.)
If you’re a Fuller FM regular, you’ll know the drill. I’ve written a bit about each senior player (often underlining their strengths and/or weaknesses), and I’ve also posted a few attribute screenshots for your perusal.
After an impressive debut campaign, Luís Maximiano is now our clear first-choice goalkeeper. The 21-year-old is a fine shotstopper who has great reflexes and is steadily improving the mental side of his game. I doubt he’ll have to wait much longer for his first senior Portugal cap.
While Renan Ribeiro remains our official number 1, the steady and experienced Brazilian has accepted he’ll mainly play in cup matches from now on. Third-choice keeper Diogo Sousa has seen his development stall recently and may be loaned out again soon.
Though his ‘dive first, think later’ approach to tackling got himself into trouble last season, Sebastián Coates is otherwise a dependable captain. At 29, the strong centre-half is at the peak of his powers and will be a reliable partner for Cömert as the Swiss star settles in.
Hopes are high for Eduardo Quaresma as the 18-year-old embarks on his first full season in the senior set-up. Eduardo poses a serious aerial threat but made a few mistakes in pre-season, so I’ll keep a close eye out for any other potential warning signs. With that in mind, the composure and big-game know-how of Luís Neto will still come in very handy.
Though I’m looking forward to seeing how Rodrigues gets on, Marcos Acuña will still take some shifting at left-back. The Argentina international is a complete wing-back with impressive technique, a strong work ethic, and an appetite for big games.
At right-back, Çelik arrives as a serious rival for the talented but injury-prone Valentin Rosier. I’m a big fan of the 23-year-old Frenchman, whose professionalism and attacking threat has attracted plenty of transfer interest over the summer. It’ll take a big offer to prise him from my grasp.
Now here are a couple of midfielders you haven’t met yet. Aggressive half-back João Palhinha spent two seasons on loan at Braga, recording an average rating of 7.22 over 28 league games last term. I’m such a fan of João’s defensive capabilities that he’s immediately been installed as vice-captain upon his return.
Palhinha will provide fresh competition for the energetic Ivorian youngster Idrissa Doumbia, who was a consistently solid presence in that holding role last term. Another emerging talent with a bright future is Uruguayan deep-lying playmaker Manuel Ugarte, who has wasted little time in making Lisbon his new home.
Our other returning loanee is Josip Misic, who was at Greek Superleague side PAOK for the past 18 months. The 26-year-old – who’s been capped twice by Croatia – is a hard worker and loves a killer ball. Misic is well-suited to a playmaker role, which should keep these next two lads on their toes.
Miguel Luís was our breakthrough star last season, thriving both as an advanced playmaker and as a mezzala. The skilful 21-year-old banged in plenty of long shots last term and showed plenty of spirit in the big matches. Another campaign like that will surely catch the eyes of Portugal’s new head coach Sérgio Conceição.
Brazil may also soon be calling for Mattheus Oliveira, whose hereditary technique and goal-scoring abilities received widespread acclaim last term. That being said, his limited strength and work rate do hamper his game somewhat. Let’s not forget about his 22-year-old compatriot Wendel, who was outstanding in a box-to-box role during pre-season and will hopefully kick on soon.
Petryak is our new first-choice on the left-wing, but Joelson Fernandes will be hot on the Ukrainian’s heels… or at least the 17-year-old will be once he’s recovered from a major pre-season injury. Taking that into consideration, we probably shouldn’t expect big things immediately from this prodigious attacking trickster.
While Joelson is on the mend, I’ve promoted another 17-year-old starlet to the first-team. Telmo Duque came through last season’s youth intake as a flamboyant and technically proficient wingman who could become amazing once he picks up some speed. I might give him a few outings here and there over the season.
We’re also lucky to have two very gifted right-wingers in our ranks. The explosive Luciano Vietto is a world-beating goalscorer and creator on his day but isn’t always the most reliable wingman. Jovane Cabral is younger and rawer but shows a bit more resilience, so perhaps he could soon usurp Vietto for good.
After a slow start to last season, Luiz Phellype found the net 15 times – a target that I’m sure the Brazilian beast will want to surpass this term. He certainly has the first-time finishing skills and the desire to do that. My only concern with Big Phil that he plays with his back to goal – a trait which suits a target man much more than an out-and-out striker.
Ability-wise, Andraz Sporar is perhaps our most dangerous frontman, but the silky Slovene’s injury record in his first year at Sporting was alarming. There’s also 21-year-old Pedro Mendes – a fearless frontman who could finally see regular action this season, especially if Sporar is consigned to the treatment room again.
Here’s one of the tactics I’ll mainly be using this season. I noticed last season that our winger and striker were often too isolated, so I’ve switched the winger to a support duty and given the inside-forward on the opposite flank more licence to attack.
An even bigger change you’ll have noticed is that I’ve turned off counter-pressing. “But Chris,” I hear you cry, “Everybody knows that gegenpressing is overpowered in FM20! Why on Earth aren’t you counter-pressing anymore?”
1) Gegenpressing isn’t OP in FM20. Seriously. Use a Gegenpress tactic with Morecambe for one season and let me know how you get on.
2) While counter-pressing is effective at quickly winning the ball back, it leaves us a bit more disorganised positionally, which quick counter-attacking teams can take advantage of. While we will continue to press opponents with more urgency than most teams, we will also try to be smarter in deciding when to press and when to regroup.
And here is my retweaked, more direct ‘Plan B’. It still works pretty well, but I’m not entirely convinced with having a deep-lying playmaker in defensive midfield – two stratas behind our wide attackers. I might actually move this role to where the box-to-box midfielder is now, and instead have a defensive midfielder (or half-back), which would effectively turn this 4-3-3 into a 3-4-3 when attacking.
PRE-SEASON
Erm… I think our first three friendlies against non-league opposition were a tad too easy! Poor old Oeiras didn’t put up any resistance in our first game, shipping nine goals to eight different players! Joelson scored the first two, but then the boy wonder broke his ankle, ending his pre-season very early.
We then went one better at Beira Mar Almada, scoring TEN without reply! Sporar helped himself to four goals before half-time, Mendes netted twice after the break, and even young Duque got his name on the scoresheet!
Third-division Sintrense were slightly more resilient, as they conceded only six goals and even got one back against a previously untested Sporting backline. Though Petryak and Wendel had each impressed with braces, it remained to be seen whether our increased attacking power had come at our defence’s expense.
Sure enough, Rennes provided much stiffer opposition when we paid a brief visit to France. Ristovski didn’t play against us, but after a goalless first half, his new team made our defence look like mugs in the second. Romain Del Castillo pounced twice from the wing, with United States striker Jordan Siebatcheu getting a goal in between.
Our final friendly was a much more encouraging home win against a strong Sevilla side. Eduardo Henrique gave us one last goal before his move to Famalicão, and namesake Quaresma secured victory by heading in a late Misic corner. A communication breakdown between Ribeiro and Quaresma handed our Spanish visitors a late goal, but otherwise, it had been a productive pre-season.
THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN: YEAR 2
I’m now in the second year of my initial contract, which means I have to deliver results to earn a new deal. As you can see, I’m still building on Sporting’s established club culture, though the board aren’t happy that I haven’t signed any big names.
I’m sorry, but the high-reputation players our president wants are either too old or too expensive (if not both)… or they just aren’t interested in playing for us. Besides, buying big names for the heck of it isn’t really my thing. I don’t care that Kévin Rodrigues won’t sell thousands of shirts in America or South Korea; I just care about how he plays on the pitch.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s look at our finances. Our overall balance stands at a cool €50million – that’s at least five times more than we had 12 months ago. With our finances in such a healthy state, the president has accepted my requests to increase our junior coaching budget and also improve the youth training facilities next year.
We’re currently spending €520,000 per week on players, which is €20,000 per week under the limit. I have an outstanding transfer budget of €2.75million, so I could maybe buy a few young, cheap talents before the window shuts at the end of August.
In terms of our objectives for this season, we’re again expected to challenge for the Primeira Liga title. That’s certainly doable, as Benfica have sold Rúben Dias, Florentino Luís and Pizzi for big money this summer and replaced them with… erm, Stefan Savic and Eric Dier.
Qualifying for the Champions League will be slightly easier this season. As Portugal have risen to 6th in the UEFA nation club coefficient rankings, the Primeira Liga now has three CL places up for grabs. The top two will go straight into the Group Stage in 2021/2022, with the 3rd-placed team entering the qualifying stages.
For this season, though, we will have to go through two qualifying rounds to achieve our objective of reaching the Champions League Group Stage. We’ve been paired in Qualifying Round 3 with Austria Wien, who shouldn’t cause us too many issues, but a trickier Playoff tie against either Spartak Moscow or Fenerbahçe awaits.
The board expect us to reach the Semi Finals of both domestic cups: the Taça de Portugal, and the Taça da Liga. I can probably afford to take it easy in the latter competition, where we’ve been drawn in a Round 3 group with Vitória de Guimarães, Tondela and Paços de Ferreira.
You might’ve noticed that there’s NO Supertaça for us this year. Because Benfica had won the lot, muggins here thought we’d made it in as league runners-up, but Community Shield rules don’t apply in Portugal. Instead, Benfica played against the team they beat in the Taça de Portugal Final – namely Braga – and pummelled them 3-0.
This Sporting squad looks in better shape than it did 12 months ago, and I’m feeling hopeful about the season ahead. We’ll see if that optimism lasts when I post my next update on Friday, which will include all our results from August and September.
As ever, you can stay updated whenever a new blog post goes live by hitting the ‘Follow Fuller FM’ button and/or following me on Twitter @Fuller_FM.
Fuller FM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.