At Porto, Terem Moffi could outshine Gyokeres at Sporting | OneFootball

Terem Moffi joined FC Porto in the last winter transfer window, on loan from Nice (with a purchase option clause of eight million euros, plus 250 thousand euros in bonuses). At the club, he went through delicate episodes, the most recent related to an attack by fans on the players themselves.

The setbacks, however, are not unprecedented in the trajectory of the Nigerian international. At 18, he left England for Lithuania, where he faced a complicated adaptation phase before establishing himself at FK Riteriai: in 2019, he scored 20 goals in 31 official matches.

Mindaugas Grigaravicius shared the locker room with the forward and, in an extensive interview given to this Thursday's edition of the newspaper O Jogo, recounted what he saw: “I lived with him for three weeks in a hotel while the club was looking for apartments for the players. I was the one who took him to training, we drove around and ate together.”

“He was a shy and calm boy, who didn’t speak much at first. He didn’t show emotions, he seemed like a boy from Africa just chasing the dream of playing football. His first training sessions were terrible,” began the former Lithuanian international, currently 33 years old and already retired from football.

“We commented among ourselves about what he had come here to do, he couldn’t fit in or play. He was strong and tall, but seemed weak, losing all the balls. After a month, we said he had no chance of staying, of being useful in our goals of playing for the top three. But he showed us how wrong we were,” he continued.

“He had a complicated adaptation, in the gym he couldn’t do simple exercises, stretches. He had to do extra work and that’s where the progress started until he played. He understood what he needed after a month. He needed opportunities and, in three or four months, we already saw the level of Moffi known from France. He showed passion, power, a lot of strength and various qualities, he crushed the defenders, he killed them!” He started scoring many goals,” he completed.

“Moffi to be better than Gyokeres at Sporting”

It was at that time that Moffi showed his worth: “The more he performed, the more we pushed him, we knew he could score more. He had the character to seek more, we also teased him and he never responded badly. Others would have told us to shut up! He was always calm and focused on the goals. He did what he had to do and reached where he is now.”

“We didn’t understand what happened, we couldn’t imagine he was so good, capable of competing in the main leagues and facing the big stars of PSG. Today, he is capable of playing in England, Spain, or Germany,” he assured.

“In a big club like FC Porto, there’s no time for adaptation, but it was another big step for him. He needed a new chapter because he was having problems in France, and he will surely be successful. He is cut out for it, he is very strong, finishes well, and has that power to ‘kill’ the defenders,” he added.

“In good shape, with everyone’s confidence, he is one of the forwards who surpasses three rivals nearby, he has no limits. He can be better than Gyokeres at Sporting. He will be one of the best at Sporting,” he concluded, referring to the forward who was meanwhile sold to Arsenal for a fee that could rise to 75 million euros.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.