Ricardo Sousa: “Youth success is FC Porto’s, but André Villas-Boas’s” | OneFootball

FC Porto wrote another golden page in its history by achieving a third clean sweep in the youth ranks, adding the national under-19, under-17 and under-15 titles to the first team’s Betclic League triumph. “Forever the Year of the Dragon,” as André Villas-Boas called it, highlighting the significance of a feat that had only happened at the club before in 1985/86 and 1997/98.

It was precisely with one of the under-19 champions from 1997/98 that the newspaper Record spoke on Monday afternoon. Already in Romania, preparing the season for Petrolul Ploiesti, the team he is set to coach, 47-year-old Ricardo Sousa recalled that memorable year, but before that he highlighted the most recent triumph. The former FC Porto player stressed the importance of this achievement for the present and future of the Dragons, making sure to praise the role of president André Villas-Boas.

“It is a victory for the structure that André [Villas-Boas] defined from day one. He made many difficult choices, both in youth development and in senior football, but the results are there for all to see. FC Porto is FC Porto again. The normal FC Porto is this: a winning FC Porto. Before taking charge of FC Porto, André made many promises and he is fulfilling every one of them; he is winning and delivering everything he said he would do. It is a victory for FC Porto, but also a very personal one for André. It is not easy to achieve what FC Porto achieved this year, but I believe it came at the right time. It came at the moment FC Porto changed, and it proved that this change was the right one,” Ricardo Sousa stressed, seeing in this clean sweep yet another sign of transformation at the club and an indication that homegrown talent can be backed without hesitation.

“It is a very important achievement; it is a sign that people can and should start looking downward again, because for some years FC Porto stopped looking downward. It is a sign that you can look downward, because there is also a lot of quality down there, there are kids like Vitinha, Fábio Vieira… it is with players who came from below that FC Porto can reach the top, can make money. The quality is there; there is no need to be afraid of backing quality,” stressed the former Dragons player.

Ricardo Sousa believes that seeing academy players such as Diogo Costa, Martim Fernandes and Rodrigo Mora establish themselves in the first team carries enormous weight for the younger ones. If we add to that the call-ups of André Miranda, Tiago Silva, Bernardo Lima and Tiago Andrade to the group, all of this works as motivation for young talents to make themselves noticed.

“At this moment, the under-19, under-17 and under-15 players see that there is a commitment to giving them a chance, and they give their best with the aim of one day being the ones to break through. If a player is in a club’s academy, looks upward, and for five years does not see a single player, regardless of quality, titles or international caps, get the opportunity to take a step forward at the club he likes, at the club he loves, then of course he becomes demotivated. On the other hand, if he looks upward and realizes that this trust exists, he will work better and better,” Ricardo Sousa observed.

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