Daniela Santos joins FC Porto from Benfica: “A huge club, new trophies” | OneFootball

Daniela Areia Santos is FC Porto’s latest signing and arrives at the Dragão with her ambition on full display, at a time when the club is preparing for its debut in the top tier of women’s football. The 22-year-old centre-back leaves Benfica and comes in with accumulated experience, a spell with the senior national team, and a clear idea of what led her to change clubs. Speaking about the new challenge, she summed up the spirit behind her decision and assured: “I will give my best.”

This is a time of building and establishing FC Porto’s women’s football project, and Daniela Areia Santos’s arrival fits that vision. Originally from the Azores, the centre-back made her way to mainland Portugal at an early age, moved through the various competitive levels, and now emerges as another piece in a project that wants to make a winning start on the biggest stage. The message running through her words is simple: ambition, hard work, and readiness to compete.

Presented as a new FC Porto signing, Daniela Santos first spoke about the weight of the project and what she found in the blue-and-white proposal. She did not hide her excitement about wearing the new shirt or her attraction to a demanding competitive environment.

“I am very happy to sign for a club as big as FC Porto. I hope to help win many trophies and I will give my best,” she said. “I came because of the project, because it is such a big club looking for new achievements and so ambitious. Coming to FC Porto means wanting to achieve more and being able to play on the biggest stages. I hope to find a dressing room that is very ambitious, united, and ready to win many trophies.”

In these statements, there is a clear embrace of that level of expectation. Daniela is not presenting herself as just another signing: she is aligning herself with an idea of growth and with the winning mentality FC Porto is trying to establish from the ground up in this new cycle.

When asked to describe herself, the centre-back chose two words that help frame the profile she brings to the club. Right after that, she went back to the beginning of the biggest change in her career and life, when she left the Azores at a very young age.

“I am a resilient player, one who always gives everything and never gives up. I am a player who works very hard.”

That image of resilience then gained a more biographical dimension, in an answer where she connected the past to the present moment.

“It was difficult, because I came from a completely different world, but the difficulties I went through made me a more mature and more developed person,” she explained. “That allowed me to get here as a much more grown person and ready for new challenges.”

The picture that emerges from these words is of a player shaped by adaptation. Her early move, far from being a side note, appears as a central part of the competitive identity with which Daniela wants to establish herself at FC Porto.

Her recent experience with Liga BPI teams also came up, as a decisive stage in her competitive development. Daniela Santos treated those years as a foundation for the present and as a springboard for higher goals.

“They were crucial years that gave me a lot of experience and a lot of maturity, and that allow me to be a player more capable of helping the team, and I am ready to win many trophies,” she stressed. “I would like to be a regular part of the Portuguese national team and to keep growing every day.”

Between the lines, you can sense a player who arrives aware of the road she has taken and hungry for more. The collective ambition here coexists with a clearly stated individual goal, without shifting the focus away from what she can add to the team.

International experience, moreover, was not treated as a minor detail. Her debut with the senior national team came across in her words as an emotional milestone and as validation of a path built on hard work.

“It was the fulfilment of a dream. Reaching the senior national team is the culmination of a lot of hard work and the fulfilment of a dream. I hope I can continue to represent Portugal.”

It is a statement that reinforces the competitive pedigree she brings into FC Porto’s dressing room. In a squad being built to face a new reality, that recent experience in demanding environments may carry weight beyond the position she occupies on the pitch.

Turning to her relationship with the stands, Daniela Santos left FC Porto supporters with a short and direct promise. Without embellishment, she chose commitment as her calling card.

“I will give everything for this shirt and always fight until the end. I hope to be very happy alongside our supporters.”

The ending matches the rest of her presentation: commitment, ambition, and an early sense of belonging. Even before starting to compete in blue and white, Daniela Santos wanted to make it clear what she has come for.

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