The Liga NOS transfer window review

As far as transfer windows go, it’d be fair to say the one welcoming the year of 2016 has hardly set the world alight at European level.

In Portugal, however, clubs made full use of the interlude to fine tune their squads ahead of the second half of the season. Here are the pick of the bunch.

Match day 20 of the Liga NOS brought with it much to play for at both ends of the table. Leaders Sporting were looking to keep their two point advantage at the top of the pile as they took on a struggling Académica side at the Alvalade. Meanwhile, Porto travelled to mid-table Estoril on Saturday evening before Benfica rounded off Sunday’s action with a trip to Moreirense.

At the other end, there was the proverbial “six pointer” as basement club, Tondela, travelled to Madeira to take on 15th placed Nacional. Boavista played host to 4th placed Braga and a Marega-less Marítimo rounded off the weekend’s programme by welcoming Belenenses to Funchal.

After joining FC Porto last summer with a healthy reputation and a substantial transfer fee to match, few would have expected Giannelli Imbula’s time in Portugal to have unfolded quite as it has done so far.

The Frenchman found his name associated to various clubs in both Italy and Spain prior to his eventual transfer, so it was no wonder that Porto winning the race to his signature was considered as somewhat of a coup for ‘Os Dragões’.

However, fast-forward six months and Imbula is now rumoured to be making a swift exit from Portuguese territory, so just where did it all go wrong for the most expensive player in Porto’s history?

Much like the constant associations to his former club Benfica, questions regarding Sporting’s attributes as potential Liga NOS champions are never too far away from a Jorge Jesus press conference.

On the eve of their away fixture versus Paços de Ferreira, Jesus highlighted the fact that just one of his squad members had been crowned as a league champion in Portugal before – João Pereira.

Indeed, a lack of experience may well prove to be one of the few things that can derail Sporting from its ultimate goal. It’s arguably what cost FC Porto’s talented crop last season. After Benfica defeated Arouca to go 1st in the Liga NOS table, many rival fans would have been sharpening their teeth at the prospect of Sporting slipping up against Paços de Ferreira.