Portuguese Football in English
Nélson Semedo’s move to Wolverhampton Wanderers from Barcelona was confirmed on Wednesday, with the defender becoming the latest Portuguese to arrive at Molineux in a deal worth a reported €42m.
The 26-year-old has signed a contract until 2023 with the option of extending until 2025, and brings the total of Portuguese at the club back up to ten after the recent departure of forward Diogo Jota to Liverpool.
Cristiano Ronaldo did not disappoint in his first season for Juventus as the Portuguese continued his outstanding career by winning Serie A’s inaugural MVP award in the 2018/19 campaign.
Despite scoring more goals for Juve in his second season in Italy, the Seleção captain missed out on the award in the last campaign. He started the new season with a goal against Sampdoria on Sunday evening, but he will turn 36 in February. Can Ronaldo pick up the gong as the best in the Italian league again?
Despite only being 20 years old, Domingos Quina has already been at some of Europe’s most famous clubs. At youth level, the midfielder left Benfica to join Chelsea, before later moving across London to West Ham United. Unfortunately, however, Quina struggled to show his talent with limited opportunities at the London Stadium.
As a result, the highly-rated Portuguese talent made the switch to Watford, where he is now getting first-team opportunities. So, let’s consider whether the 20-year-old can show his technique for the Hornets in their efforts to gain promotion back to the Premier League.
With the new football season fully underway in most European countries, the Portuguese contribution throughout the game is growing in accordance with the huge contingent of Luso players across the continent.
Hélder Costa and André Silva stole many of the headlines during the opening half of the weekend, but the theme of Portuguese goalscorers continued as the likes of Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo and William Carvalho joined a list totalling an astonishing 14 different goalscorers across a wide range of leagues.
The first Portuguese goals of the new Premier League season were provided by Hélder Costa this weekend, as the former Benfica winger scored twice in Leeds United’s entertaining victory against Fulham.
Costa, who managed just three goals from 40 appearances in the Championship last year, has made a strong start to the new campaign for Marcelo Bielsa’s side as Leeds prove one of the most attractive sides in the early stages of the season.
