Any Portuguese football fan under 35 years of age, until recently, had nothing but grainy TV footage and historical press articles as evidence of a time when Porto did not rule the roost in Portugal.

The Dragons dominated Portuguese football almost absolutely for three decades. In addition to winning the national title 20 times in that period, the northerners also became champions of Europe twice, not to mention winning the UEFA Cup and the Europa League, while their main domestic rivals, Benfica and Sporting, fed on scraps of domestic silverware here and there and made little or no impression abroad.

Sporting midfielder João Mário has attracted interest from a number of clubs across Europe on the back of a fantastic 2015/16 season and the high-profile role he played for Portugal who returned home from Euro 2016 triumphant in victory – Mário played in all seven of the Seleção’s games in France.

Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho has insisted that his star player is going nowhere this summer, but the 23-year-old’s absence from the team’s recent friendly defeat against Lyon may suggest otherwise. He was the only Sporting player who represented their country this summer not to feature, a significant development despite Jorge Jesus’ claim that Mário was still on holiday and would return to training a few days later, which indeed came to pass.

It has sparked fresh speculation over Mário’s future, with big-money offers predicted to come in to take the midfielder away from the Estádio Jose Alvalde.

Boca Juniors midfielder Marcelo Meli has joined Sporting on loan for the remainder of the season, the Portuguese club has confirmed.

Meli had spoken candidly about a move to Jorge Jesus’ side prior to today and will be a Sporting player until the end of the season, meanwhile the Lisbon giants can then make the deal permanent by paying the reported €2.7 million fee agreed between both parties.

The Argentine, who can be deployed both as a defensive and centre midfielder, will initially serve as cover for Adrien Silva and/or William Carvalho at a time where Alberto Aquilani’s departure looks increasingly likely and Radosav Petrović’s failure to impress during pre-season has worried sections of the Sporting’s support.

The last month has occupied us football fans with a lot of international football and, if you’re Portuguese, you most likely spent your last few days celebrating what was an absolutely unforgettable win for the country.

With that said, tomorrow the Liga NOS fixtures are announced and we’re a month away from the start of the club season and, despite a lot of the internationals being at the start of their vacation, pre-season has taken over the lives of our clubs. A lot has happened at the start of this pre-season, mainly related to transfers, so we will wrap it all up in this article. Who is arriving in Portugal for the first time? Who left? How are the smaller clubs approaching the 2016/17 season? Let’s find out.

Note: Benfica, Sporting and Porto’s endeavours are not included in this particular article, as they are dealt with in separate articles and in order to emphasize the rest of the Portuguese league and its coaches, players and clubs. Clubs are listed in the order they finished last season.