Saw Salvador Blopa grow at Sporting and admits: I could never play... | OneFootball

João Couto explained the reason why Salvador Blopa abandoned the striker position to start playing on the wings. The newspaper Record spoke with several members of the Sporting Academy staff, who watched the young player grow, after his brace on his debut wearing the lion's shirt, against Alverca, in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

João Lourenço, a coach at the Academy, worked with Salvador Blopa and shared some stories: "He didn’t have an easy context but always showed determination, humility, and a strong work ethic. For example, we participated in France in an under-10 tournament, the ‘Europoussins’, where we stayed in a house where the kids already had responsibilities like making their own beds. Blopa not only did everything he was asked but, even as a child, would ask if he could set the table or do more things. He was always a humble and polite person, with the right values."

"He was at the top of the list of young talents who should move from the Pólo EUL to the Academy... it was an excellent batch, which also included Gabriel Silva, for example. As for Salvador, he hadn’t yet gone through puberty—the period of rapid growth acceleration—and that only made him more promising, as has been proven," explained João Couto, former coordinator of the green and white Academy.

João Lourenço then spoke about the player’s versatility, followed by João Couto: "In the under-10 and under-11 teams, we hadn’t yet defined positions, and he played as a forward and attacking midfielder due to his technical skills. Only later, in the under-15s, did he move to the wing. It’s part of the development process to try different positions. On the wing, he showed he was capable of covering the entire flank."

"He was first identified as a forward because of his speed and stamina and was a dynamic striker, but he could never play as a fixed center-forward, as that wouldn’t allow us to exploit his speed. He can shoot with both feet—an innate quality that he has refined—and we felt it would be better for him to play from the back to the front, which is why he started playing as a full-back," concluded the former coordinator of the Sporting Academy.

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