From Rúben Neves to Rony Lopes: who will be Portugal’s Euro 2016 joker?

From Rúben Neves to Rony Lopes: who will be Portugal’s Euro 2016 joker?

Since taking over as Seleção coach from Paulo Bento, Fernando Santos has called up 51 players in little over a year in charge, giving 15 Portuguese footballers their full senior debuts. So despite his ultra conservative image, it is not beyond question that Santos will spring a surprise when it comes to naming the Euro 2016 squad.

There is plenty of time to discuss the make-up of the squad before next summer’s tournament, but this article focuses on one aspect alone: which uncapped player, if any, will make it into Fernando Santos’s squad for the European Championship in France?

PortuGOAL brings you five of the most likely talents to be given a shot at global stardom when Santos names that 23-man squad.

For one young player, next summer’s tournament could be a case of simply making up the numbers and acquiring experience of the Seleção set-up… or he could end up stealing the headlines from captain Cristiano Ronaldo. The defining criterion for this list is that the player in question must be uncapped at senior level. 

 

Rúben Neves, 18 years old, defensive midfielder, (FC Porto)

One of the outstanding performers of 2015/16 so far in Portugal, 18-year-old Neves is taking such precocious steps that a stellar career at the very top of the game looks increasingly likely. Having exploded onto the scene one year ago, becoming Porto’s youngest ever goalscorer in the league and the youngest ever Portuguese player to participate in the Champions League, Neves has further upped his game this season.

Blessed with innate perfect positional sense, a wonderful passing range, speed of thought and execution and just the right amount of aggression to fully harness his attributes, he leaves no doubt that he is what the Portuguese call a “pré-destinado” – which can be translated simply as a “born footballer”.

 

Gelson Martins, 20, winger (Sporting)

When Jorge Jesus took over the reins at Sporting in the summer he let it be known that he had big plans for the sleight, speedy and dexterous Gelson Martins. The coach has been as good as his word, making Martins a virtual ever-present in the first team despite his complete lack of top-level senior football prior to this season. The winger’s chances were further boosted by the breakdown in the relationship between Sporting and star winger André Carrillo. Martins has seized his opportunities with gusto.

Showing a rugged fearlessness in taking on his man, electric feet and a willing attitude, Martins could benefit from the fact that Portugal are currently a little short in one area of the pitch in which they traditionally excel. Nani had an underwhelming Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, and Quaresma’s role nowadays is confined to an impact substitute. Room for another winger Fernando?

 

Ricardo Pereira, 22, utility player (Nice, on loan from FC Porto)

Ricardo Pereira has taken the term “utility player” to a whole different level. Having risen to prominence as a winger for Vitória Guimarães, Ricardo (as he is known in Portugal) earned a move to FC Porto where he was used as a backup right-back for Brazilian Danilo. So effective were Ricardo’s displays on his few opportunities that many were surprised to see Porto release him this season, especially with Danilo having moved on to Real Madrid.

Eyebrows were further raised when it became clear he was being used at his loan club, Nice, as a left-back. His response? To get selected by WhoScored.com, the highly respected football statistical entity which tracks players in Europe’s top leagues, in the Ligue 1 team of the week on two successive occasions and to subsequently make the best European XI for September. Ricardo was even picked out for an in-depth scouting report in the WhoScored.com September review (to download the magazine click here). And it is Ricardo’s remarkable versatility - Portugal U21 coach Rui Jorge continued to use him in attack at the U21 Euro 2015 championship - that could prove his trump card to squeeze into the Euro 2016 squad.

 

 

André Silva, 19, striker (FC Porto)

So how can a player who doesn’t even play top-level football be considered for selection into Portugal’s Euro 2016 squad? The depressingly simple answer lies in the scarcity of viable alternatives, for what has become Portugal’s chronic problem position – the central striker.

Silva has scored with metronomic consistency throughout his development at U19, U20 and U21 level for Portugal (27 goals in 35 matches). His knack of hitting the back of the net is just as impressive in his statistics for Porto B, where this season he is averaging a goal a game. An unflashy and in many ways untypical Portuguese striker; a poacher who is not particularly noteworthy for his skills, his speed or any single attribute, but a deadly marksman who knows where the net is and rarely misses when presented with an opportunity. Is he the man to benefit from a Moutinho throughball, a rebound off the post, the space created by multiple marking of Ronaldo? Perhaps, although to make the Euro 2016 squad he really needs to be loaned out this January.

 

Rony Lopes, 19, attacking midfielder (Monaco)

The most lauded of our young pretenders, Rony Lopes has long been touted as a future star for Portugal, with many labelling him Cristiano Ronaldo’s natural successor as the team’s golden boy. The Brazilian born Monaco player has had such a high-profile and eventful start to his career it’s easy to forget he is still a teenager.

Having started in the Benfica youth system, he moved to Manchester City where exciting, albeit sporadic, displays raised hopes he could break into the first team of the EPL giants. Continuous multi-million pound incoming transfers to City put paid to those hopes, but Lopes has continued to make strides in France, first at Lille on loan last year, and now at Monaco. His progress has been somewhat stunted by a series of injuries, but if he can get a positive season behind him in the principality, and especially if he can strike up a good understanding with Portugal internationals Ricardo Carvalho, João Moutinho, Bernardo Silva and Fábio Coentrão, he might just get that call. 

 

Long shots:

Gonçalo Guedes, 18, winger (Benfica)

Bruma, 20, winger (Real Sociedad, on loan from Galatasaray)

Bruno Fernandes, 21, midfielder (Udinese)

Carlos Mané, 21, forward/winger (Sporting)

Gonçalo Paciência, 21, striker (Académica, on loan from FC Porto)

 

Before announcing the final Euro 2016 squad, Fernando Santos will have at least four friendlies to test out formations, permutations and players: two in November and two in March.

The above-mentioned players may well play a big role for the Seleção in the future. Will that future start next summer?

by Tom Kundert