Sporting star sidelined since April makes CIES top three | OneFootball

The Football Observatory, also known as CIES, published this Sunday a list of the most outstanding under-20 central midfielders in leagues outside the big five, with João Simões, Sporting’s ‘number 52’, standing out among them Sporting.

The 19-year-old player is in third place, having been used by Rui Borges on 32 occasions, totaling 1,652 minutes, scoring one goal and providing one assist. The table is led by 18-year-old Slovenian Nejc Viher, who plays for Maribor and amassed 2,331 minutes in 33 matches last season, scoring three goals.

However, João Simões had to halt his campaign in April due to a recurrence of a fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot, an injury that required another surgery and ruled him out of the final matches of the season.

As it is a delicate problem prone to setbacks, the stages of recovery are being followed without any rush, with his return now only expected in September, causing him to miss the opening rounds of the league campaign.

. Nuno Santos, Ibrahima Ba, Zeno Debast and Bruno Ramos are also still recovering from their respective injuries.

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