Leadership, height and strength: meet Domingos Duarte, new at São Paulo | OneFootball

* By contributor Alex Pimenta

After getting rid of the transfer ban imposed by FIFA, São Paulo finally managed this Thursday (6) to unveil another of its signings, center-back Domingos Duarte.

The Portuguese player, who had been at Getafe, arrives at Morumbi on a free transfer after his contract with the Spanish club expired, and he signed a deal running until July 31, 2028. Duarte will be presented to the fans this Friday (7), after Tricolor’s training session, at CT da Barra Funda, in a press conference scheduled for 12:45 p.m. (Brasília time).

An established center-back in European football, Duarte approached São Paulo, apologized for his initial stance in the negotiations, and agreed to lower his initial salary demands to fit within the wage cap set by the board, sealing a verbal commitment valid for two seasons. Domingos Duarte came through Sporting Portugal’s youth ranks and has always shown himself to be a player with great physical strength and leadership.

During his career, he had stints with Portugal’s Sporting B, Belenenses (loan), Chaves (loan), as well as Spain’s Granada (2019-2022) and Getafe (2022-present).

His contract ended in the middle of the year and was not renewed by Getafe, making him a free agent. Therefore, the player fit perfectly into São Paulo’s negotiation model, with no transfer fee and only signing bonus and salary to be agreed.

In the 2025/26 season, Domingos played 33 La Liga matches, with one goal and one assist, and was an undisputed starter in Getafe’s defense, which, incidentally, was one of the best defenses in the Spanish Championship.

The Portuguese center-back’s strengths are:

* Excellent in the air * Strong in physical duels * Good defensive reading * Leadership and positioning * ⁠Height (1.92 m)

For comparison with players who play in Brazil, we can say the Portuguese defender has characteristics similar to Paraguayan center-back Gustavo Gómez of rivals Palmeiras. But we have to consider some negative points regarding his style of play:

* He is not a fast center-back * He picks up a lot of cards

Because of his combative profile, he often ends up going too far. Even with these negative traits, I view the signing of the Portuguese defender positively, as he fits the profile requested by coach Dorival, the famous defensive sheriff.

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