Samu to stay? Familiar face leads FC Porto attacking overhaul | OneFootball

André Silva is very close to becoming an FC Porto signing, preparing to return ‘home’ nine years after leaving the Dragão to sign for AC Milan. The Portuguese striker, now 30, will return more experienced, but he is not expected to be the only new face in the attack that FC Porto want to revamp for the 2026/27 season.

With the departures of Terem Moffi (returned to Nice) and Luuk de Jong (did not renew his contract) already confirmed, André Villas-Boas and Francesco Farioli continue to work on the area that caused the most problems last season, with only one certainty: Samu is the only one guaranteed a place for the new campaign.

This is because Deniz Gul could also leave FC Porto in the summer transfer window, with Turkish side Galatasaray among the main interested clubs. The 21-year-old forward has already spent a season and a half wearing the dragon on his chest, but he never established himself as a starter for the blue-and-whites, although he was useful as a second option, even if his numbers were far from extraordinary (nine goals in 67 games).

Gul will be at the 2026 World Cup and could therefore showcase himself on football’s biggest stage, while FC Porto may also see his value rise, which would allow them to make a bigger profit from a potential sale.

Signed at the start of 2025 from Swedish side Hammarby for less than five million euros, Deniz Gul could leave FC Porto and head elsewhere, making the possibility of an almost total revolution in attack even more evident.

In the season that has now ended for FC Porto, the attack was a constant source of concern. Luuk de Jong, a surprise signing in the summer transfer window, got injured in the very first weeks of 2025/26, while Samu also suffered a serious injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season, as well as a possible appearance at the 2026 World Cup.

That left Deniz Gul and Moffi, the latter signed in the winter transfer window to make up for the absence of the two forwards, but neither managed to match Samu’s goalscoring record, which is now leading to a deeper overhaul in the frontline that the dragons want to present in 2026/27, a season in which they will have to defend the national title and return to the elite of European football – in other words, the Champions League.

What has changed in 10 years for André Silva?

André Silva will therefore be the ‘familiar face’ who serves as the starting point for the revolution planned by Farioli and Villas-Boas, although he will certainly have to deliver performances (and goals) to earn his place in FC Porto’s starting XI. The striker, who hails from Baguim do Monte, Rio Tinto, is coming off a positive season with Elche, having scored 10 goals (all in La Liga) in 32 matches and becoming the first player from the Alicante province club to reach double figures since Jonathas de Jesus in 2014/15.

His strong performances for Elche also put André Silva back on the national team’s radar with the 2026 World Cup in mind, but the national team coach preferred to call up a more mobile third forward (Gonçalo Guedes), leaving out strikers such as André himself and Paulinho.

Before his spell at Elche, which is now coming to an end, André Silva spent the last decade riding highs and lows in Italy, Germany and Spain.

In 2016, he left FC Porto to sign for AC Milan, who paid almost 40 million for him, but the Milan adventure lasted only one season, after which he was loaned to Sevilla the following campaign.

That was followed by a spell at Eintracht Frankfurt, where he achieved the best numbers of his career in 2020/21, with 29 goals and seven assists in just 34 matches, before moving to RB Leipzig in the summer of 2021.

After two seasons with the Red Bull team, the Portugal international was first loaned to Real Sociedad, then returned to Leipzig for half a season, before being sent out on loan again, staying in the Bundesliga to represent Werder Bremen.

Last summer, he parted ways with RB Leipzig and agreed to return to Spain to play for Elche, signing a one-year contract with an option. Now, he has a clear path to return to the Dragão almost a decade after leaving, with everything agreed between the parties, according to information gathered by Desporto ao Minuto.

Time to ‘fatten up’ his goal tally

André Silva’s last game in an FC Porto shirt dates back to 21 May 2017, when the dragons lost away to Moreirense (1-3) on the final matchday of the Primeira Liga. The Portuguese forward started on the bench but was brought on by Nuno Espírito Santo at half-time, though he was still unable to prevent FC Porto’s defeat, as they finished in second place, six points behind then-champions Benfica.

As for André Silva’s last goal for Porto, it came in the previous round, against Paços de Ferreira (4-1), when he once again came off the bench to seal FC Porto’s win by converting a penalty.

In total, during his first spell at FC Porto, André Silva scored 24 goals in 58 matches, and he now has a second opportunity to improve those numbers.

It is also worth noting that he will reunite with João Costa, the only player who was part of Porto’s 2016/17 squad and is now under Farioli’s orders.

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