It was the plan all along – to avoid free-spending on a truckload of players in order to invest in a manager who could get the best of what was already at the club. Jorge Jesus didn’t disappoint when he notoriously hopped over the Lisbon fence to join Sporting, bringing back the adrenaline of a title race that had for too long escaped the Lions’ grasp.

Portuguese football is better for it and so are those who chose to stick around for the next chapter in Sporting’s renaissance. Target man Islam Slimani scored more goals last season than in his previous two years in Portugal combined; meanwhile the green half of Lisbon can look on with great pride that at least three of their leading players last season graduated from the famous Alcochete academy.

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.