Assistants Dave Vos and Callum Walsh driving William Gomes’ progress | OneFootball

The two most recent goals by William Gomes reveal something that goes beyond mere moments of inspiration: against Estoril and now against Tondela, the FC Porto winger has once again demonstrated that high pressing can be a decisive weapon. In both situations, he attacked the space, anticipated the opponent’s mistake, and, without hesitation, recovered the ball before finishing in the net. At the end of the match against the team from Amoreira, he summed up his evolution simply: “It’s the result of training. Dave Vos and Callum Walsh work a lot with me and I was lucky.”

At the start of the season, William stood out with “Hulk-style” goals: runs from the right to the center finished with his powerful left foot. However, the repetition of that move made him predictable, and opponents began to close off his paths. Faced with this reality, the assistants of Francesco Farioli suggested another way for him to score: capitalize on the opponent’s mistakes, take on the first phase of defense, and turn high recoveries into clear opportunities.

This detail led Record to investigate how FC Porto structures its training under the guidance of Francesco Farioli. The extensive technical staff of the 36-year-old Italian coach organizes the work by specific areas and, in the area of offensive pressing, lead assistant Dave Vos and fitness coach Callum Walsh play a central role, also due to their skills suited to this function. With the final supervision of the head coach, they are the ones who define individual tasks for each player, aimed at improving collective performance.

Even so, we found that personalized training is not new in Farioli’s model: this approach was already evident in FC Porto’s effectiveness on set pieces, especially corners, a task led by Lino Godinho, Lucho González, and Carlos Pintado. These plays have brought clear benefits to the Dragons: it was from one of these moves that the scoring was opened in Tondela.

In recent weeks, William Gomes has been the most visible example of how these methods can unlock matches. And, judging by his performances on the pitch, he is also one of the most committed players.

Signed in January to fill the gap left by Galeno, who was sold at that time to Al Ahli, William Gomes arrived at Dragão as a left winger, the position in which he completed all of his training and where he started at FC Porto. With Farioli’s arrival, the 19-year-old winger spoke with the Italian coach and expressed his preference to play as a right winger. The coach felt that this option enhanced his qualities and began testing him in that position during the pre-season, where he has since excelled.

In January, FC Porto paid 9 million euros to São Paulo for 80 percent of William Gomes’ economic rights, in a deal that also includes an additional amount of up to €1M in objectives. According to Record, the Dragons did not secure any clause to acquire the remaining 20 percent of his rights, although that option remains open, albeit not for now. Moving forward with such a purchase would require new negotiations, but the current good relations between the two clubs make this process easier. The board led by Villas-Boas will choose the most appropriate moment to try to acquire the full rights to William Gomes, knowing that the 19-year-old winger is the team’s second top scorer and has been increasing his value in the market.

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