The Next Generation
Over the transfer window I had made several signings. Practically all of them were youngsters, who were there to form the next generation of the team, the one that would be competing for the Liga Zon Sagres title in a few seasons time. Despite signing them for the future, many of them had forced their way into the lineup.
Since hiring a Head of Youth Development, Andre Novais, he regularly reported back on the youngsters in the squad. Every week he would tell me the same thing"
"Not playing these guys will be catastrophic, they need game time!
Every couple of weeks, Novais would continue to report back to me.
Tiago Duque had now forced his way past Tero and was partnering Joaquim Monteiro in the back line. Duque has astonishing concentration for a defender his age, and his tackling, heading and passing mean he has a lot of potential. Since signing him on a free, in half a season, his value had risen 18K, and I can see it rising even further!
The next player that was travelling well was
João Paulo Pinto. Since snapping him up on a free, Pinto has been one of the stars of the team, if not the league. He scored his first goal in his eighth appearance and has always been one of the star performers, whether we win, lose or draw. Novais instructed me to keep playing him in the first team on a regular basis, and he can grow into a potential Portugal left back. I still, to this day, don't know how Leixoes thought of releasing him.
But the one that had been making outstanding progress was center back
Joaquim Monteiro. No matter what the result, he was always the best player on the ground. Regularly racking up ratings over 8.0, it is obvious to see that this level is too low for him, and he definately needs to be playing in the Liga Zon Sagres sometime soon, otherwise I can see myself losing him. It is clear that he is better than some of the most experienced players hear, and despite his age (19), he plays like he has played the game for ten years. In order to keep this player, I need to get into the first division, as I can hear other clubs calling in the future, but I will do
everything to hold onto this player.
At least now I know that we have a
strong future ahead of us and so do these players. Hopefully, one day, they can lead Oriental to the title in the not-to-distant future. I scooped all these players from a list of released youngsters in Portugal. I have no idea what pills the former managers of these players were on, but I know that I'm
happy they took them, as I probably wouldn't have such a strong squad without them.