“If we’re talking about Vitinha or FC Porto’s next talents…” | OneFootball

Vitinha and João Neves are now two of the standout names of a golden generation in Portuguese football and are among the most highly valued midfielders in world football, playing for PSG. Newspaper As tried to better understand the secret behind that success and spoke to, among others, João Brandão, who is currently part of FC Porto’s coaching staff and worked in the Dragons’ youth ranks.

Hélder Cristóvão, who coached Benfica B, also gave his view. “The fact that so many very good players emerge from the same generation is partly down to chance and partly to work. In Portugal, we basically play in a 4-3-3, with three midfielders, which allows for lots of short passing and very intense positional play. A bit like in Spain. And midfielders have those characteristics. They get a lot of touches on the ball, creating triangles allows them to always be close to a teammate and far from an opponent. And to face the game head-on — that is an advantage. The great virtue of the Portuguese is that they start playing in a 4-3-3 very early on,” he stressed.

João Brandão also pointed to another factor, linked to FC Porto. “If we talk about Vitinha or the next talents coming through at FC Porto, such as Rodrigo Mora, Mateus Mide... it is interesting to note that they all have something very similar: FC Porto’s values. Being highly competitive, passionate about the game, about FC Porto football,” he said.

Renato Paiva, who has a long track record in Benfica’s youth ranks and also worked with the B team, said: “The work done by Benfica, FC Porto, Sporting and Braga has been very good. They are investing heavily in youth development, in young coaches, in training centres, in the conditions they provide... in everything. And what we are seeing now is actually the result of the work done a few years ago. It is work that was done out of necessity, because there was no money. That ended and they started backing young players.”

Certification of training institutions by the FPF was another of the highlighted programmes. “It is very important because it allows young players to have the same conditions as professionals,” acknowledged Hélder Cristóvão. “Only in this way can ideal technical and physical development be achieved. It was very important in making the player feel valued. The big three, Braga, Famalicão or Guimarães already work with youth players as if they were professionals. We believe grassroots football should have conditions almost identical to those of the first team. Only with those tools can an elite player be developed: physiotherapists, psychologists, nutritionists... We know not all of them will reach the elite, but the vast majority make it to the first teams, which is the main objective of clubs with youth academies. And, in a short time, we managed to get many of them there,” he added. “Clubs pay coaches better, improve training centres and hire professionals from various fields, such as psychologists, social workers and others, so that players come through better prepared,” Renato Paiva said.

“The club’s vision is non-negotiable. It is a winning club. At the entrance to our training centre there is a phrase that says: ‘we love those who hate losing’ and that is the basis of everything. Beyond the 4-3-3 or the 4-4-2, the values are non-negotiable,” said João Brandão. “If you do not have those values, you may have fantastic technique, but it will be difficult to survive in our academy, because the priorities are clearly defined,” he argued.

Renato Paiva reinforced the point: “In the first team, the coach is sacked after six months and everything changes. So, in youth football, the decision was made to keep the same idea and respect the way of working. All of Benfica’s youth football has the same way of working. Just like La Masia. Everyone within the same structure. Priority was given to the 4-3-3, priority was given to rotating players through different positions... We had a technical committee made up of the coaches, the head of scouting and the technical director, in which we analysed the players every week. The president [Luís Filipe Vieira] started asking for individual development results because he wanted to put them in the first team. So each position required certain characteristics, and the scouts signed players accordingly.”

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