William Gomes pushes Borja Sainz for starting spot | OneFootball

He arrived, made his mark, and secured a spot in the starting eleven. After just three games, Borja Sainz already had two goals and an assist. Present in 13 official matches for FC Porto – 12 of them as a starter – the 24-year-old Spanish winger is losing form, especially in finishing: in the last 10 games, he has only recorded one assist. During this period, William Gomes' good form is putting his starting position in jeopardy.

Also in terms of goal involvement, whether finishing or assisting, the 19-year-old Brazilian has been gaining points. In 10 games this season – none for the full 90 minutes and only three as a starter – the former São Paulo player scored four goals and provided an assist.

In the match against Moreirense, Francesco Farioli replaced him at halftime. Although the Spaniard was constrained by a yellow card that puts him at risk of suspension, William Gomes' entry and Pepê's move to the left wing brought more dynamism to the team, which eventually turned the game around.

Borja Sainz also has defensive qualities, but his offensive numbers have not been encouraging – somewhat surprising considering that last season with Norwich, he was the second top scorer in the Championship. He is the FC Porto player with the most shots in Liga Portugal Betclic (23), but his 8.7% success rate places him only 11th in that ranking.

Another weapon of the Spaniard is dribbling, but his success rate is the lowest among the most used attacking trio: 46.43% for Borja, 55% for Pepê, and 53.85% for Samu.

According to Opta data regarding the championship and excluding blocked shots, Borja has 52.9% of shots on target, while William Gomes rises to 55.56%. In this aspect, both are far ahead of Pepê (37.5%).

The data is laid out, and as usual, Francesco Farioli will have the final say.

Even having started in only three of the ten matches he played this season, William Gomes is the Brazilian under-20 with the most goals among clubs in the top 10 European leagues. With four goals in 2025/26, the former São Paulo player surpasses, for example, Estêvão from Chelsea, who scored three goals in 13 matches. A notable statistic that William aims to improve.

Borja Sainz was the first Porto player to reach four yellow cards in the league, thus being at risk of suspension. In the editorial of the Dragões magazine, André Villas-Boas criticized the inconsistency in penalty criteria, comparing what was not called on Gül against Benfica with what was awarded in Moreira de Cónegos on Froholdt. According to Record, there is another concern within the club's football structure: the relationship between fouls committed and yellow cards. The Dragons already have 25 yellow cards (5th place) and only 124 fouls committed (12th place). In the next round, FC Porto faces Sp. Braga, a team with fewer fouls and fewer yellow cards.

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