The world has certainly seen more enthralling transfer windows, as the clock ticked down with a whimper on Tuesday night across all relevant leagues.

Action in Portugal followed that trend, in particular within the remits of the traditional ‘Big Three’, so often habitual players in windows gone by.

There was, nonetheless, a good volume of activity to take note in and around those rooting for the top end of the Liga NOS table. Here’s a round-up of the ins and outs.

And another big deal completed -- in this case by Benfica, selling Gonçalo Guedes to Paris Saint-Germain for €30 million plus up to €7m on a future sell-on fee.

However much we at PortuGOAL trumpet Portuguese football, is it undeniably one of Europe’s lower-profile leagues, so how come it plays such a prominent role in the global transfer market and commands such high fees for its best players?

“How is it possible? Portuguese football is at the level of the best in Europe,” says Portuguese agent Nuno Correia, owner of NCfoot, a Portuguese agency. “Proof of this is we have the best player in the world, Portugal are European Champions, we have the best coach in the world and we have the most important agent in the world.”

Writing for ESPN, Tom Kundert explores the many contributing factors that have converged to make Portugal the perfect stage to breed, attract, develop and sell footballers of above-average calibre.

Having left the likes of FC Porto and Benfica behind them in previous rounds, Moreirense last night beat Braga 1-0 in the final of the Taça da Liga (Portuguese league cup) to lift silverware for the first time in their history.

It is a remarkable achievement for one of the more modest clubs in Portugal’s top flight, which is from Moreira de Cónegos, a village with a population of under 5,000 people.

At the start of the new “Final Four” format, whereby the semi-finals and final were played at the same venue – the Algarve Stadium – over five days, Moreirense were very much the underdogs among the four teams, but it would be Augusto Inácio’s men who came out on top.

PortuGoal resumes its series of in-depth analyses of Portugal’s lesser known teams by turning the spotlight on Marítimo.

In 2016/17, after a poor start and a change of coach early on the campaign, the islanders have been on a fabulous run.

Marítimo are the only team in Portugal to beat Benfica this season, have risen to 7th in the standings and are very much in contention for Europa League qualification. Tiago Estêvão explains the reasons behind their success.