Winter transfer market roundup: Sporting, Benfica and Porto boost squad options, Gil Vicente, Famalicão, Alverca & Casa Pia cash in | OneFootball

FC Porto, Sporting and Benfica all used the January transfer window to strengthen their squads for the second half of the season.

Porto bring in quartet

Leaders Porto, who have not won the league since 2021/22, brought in Polish winger Oskar Pietuszewski, Brazilian centre-back Thiago Silva, Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana (loan), and Nigerian striker Terem Moffi (loan), all at a reported total cost of €8 million, on top of their record summer spending spree of €111 million.

Sporting splash out

Sporting, aiming for a third straight Primeira Liga championship title and are going well in the Champions League, were the Portuguese club that spent the most in the winter window, signing two wingers at a cost of €20.5 million. Brazilian Luís Guilherme and Senegalese Souleymane Faye have been added to the squad, with Alisson Santos leaving for Napoli.

Benfica’s modest investments

In contrast to recent seasons, Benfica had a modest January window, purchasing Cape Verdean wide man Lopes Cabral from neighbours Estrela da Amadora and re-signing Rafa Silva, the two players costing €11 million.

Braga add trio

With a last-16 Europa League spot assured, Braga invested in Turkish midfielder Demir Tiknaz, who impressed last season at Rio Ave, paying Besiktas €7 million for the 21-year-old, as well as snapping up Colombian-born Lebanese prospect Samy Merheg on a free transfer and bringing in Bosnian centre-back Adrian Barisić on loan.

Notable returns

Looking further down the league, there were a number of notable transfers involving players returning to Portuguese football, such as Weverson and Héctor Hernández (Gil Vicente), Gabriel Veron (Nacional), Bruno Langa (Estrela da Amadora), Leonardo Buta (Rio Ave), Ignacio de Arruabarrena (Arouca) and Gonçalo Paciência (Santa Clara).

Windfalls for Gil Vicente, Famalicão, Alverca and Casa Pia

Another interesting development is the ability shown by Portugal’s mid to lower-level clubs to attract high transfer fees for players they have developed.

Gil Vicente, enjoying a fabulous season under coach César Peixoto, stood out in particular is relation to their sales, selling striker Pablo Felipe to West Ham for a reported €23 million fee and goalkeeper Andrew to Flamengo for a further €1.5 million.

Rio Ave earned €11.75 million through the sales of winger André Luiz and striker Clayton Silva to Olympiacos, a sizeable proportion of which has been immediately reinvested with the signings of Ryan Guilherme, Diogo Bezerra, Tamble Monteiro, Jalen Blesa. Rio Ave fans have expressed their displeasure at how the club sold to Evangelos Marinakis is being run, with the fees earned for Luiz and Clayton – who accounted for 17 of Rio Ave’s 22 goals in the league this season – perceived as underpriced.

Famalicão made a lucrative sale in the shape of Yassir Zabiri, Morocco’s U20 World champions, who was sold to Rennes for €10 million.

Two other notable sales were the departure of Alverca midfielder Alex Amorim to Genoa in exchange for €8 million and Casa Pia’s young Guinea-Bissau midfielder Renato Nhaga, who heads to Galatasaray for a fee of around €7 million.