João Duque: What Benfica and Porto did in the market isn’t sustainable | OneFootball

Economist João Duque stated that the record of 362.96 million euros (ME) spent by the I Liga clubs on signings at the start of the 2025/26 season is a result of the pressure exerted on Benfica and FC Porto.

After failing to stop Sporting's victorious run in the last two seasons, the rivals of the national champion together invested a fixed 216.9 ME in the summer transfer window, with the 'dragons' setting a new maximum investment in Portugal, reaching 111.35 ME.

"There are two very important phenomena here. Benfica has elections coming up and FC Porto, due to the recent election of the new president [André Villas-Boas], as it has not been achieving results, began to feel deeply harassed and had to open the purse strings", observed João Duque today, in statements to Lusa.

FC Porto, champion in 2022, spent 94.35 ME on new reinforcements, part of a total investment of 111.35 ME, while Benfica, which previously held the record for this period (108.5 ME in the summer of 2020), approached this value by applying 105.55 ME in signings.

"Therefore, what will happen, from a financial point of view, is that one of the two, or even both, will have made a disastrous investment policy, because it is not possible for FC Porto and Benfica to win the championship of the two. They can both lose it", he argued.

In the case of Benfica, the economist explained, the pressure on President Rui Costa intensifies due to the elections for the club's governing bodies, scheduled for October 25, a situation that contrasts with that of the leader of the Lisbon rival, Frederico Varandas.

"He doesn't have that pressure. [For Sporting] not being national champion means not making the 'tri'. Now, not being champion for I don't know how many years, that's already tricky", João Duque maintained.

Sporting was the club that earned the most from sales, totaling 181.4 ME fixed (new club record), boosted mainly by the transfer of Swedish forward Viktor Gyökeres to Arsenal for 65.8 ME, plus 10.3 ME in objectives, having only reinvested 79.8 ME in signings.

"Sporting can be accused of excessive conservatism in the use of means. But I think it's good to have a club that, after having given so much shock from the point of view of the club's own survival, now tends towards stability", he defended.

Benfica's balance in the summer market resulted in a deficit of 10 ME, despite having obtained significant revenues in sales, with 95.5 ME, while FC Porto recorded a negative result of 34.18 ME, having collected 77.17 ME from player exits.

"Making this effort, preferring the financial balance of the club, and risking all the chips... This is not sustainable", warned João Duque, predicting a busy winter market for these clubs, in January, "if things start to go wrong".

The numbers of Sporting de Braga are more modest in absolute terms, but the proportion is even more unfavorable than that of the 'eagles' and 'dragons': the club presided over by António Salvador spent 28.57 ME, a new maximum for the third consecutive year, and received only 9.90 ME.

With a total of 352.90 ME pocketed from the sale of footballers, the aggregate balance of the I Liga clubs remains positive at 17.94 ME, but this is the lowest amount of the last decade, something that could pose management challenges throughout the season, given the business model of Portuguese clubs.

"In all these signings, we only hear the value of the pass. We don't know the monthly payment to the players. There are the exits, which relieve the income statement, but the question is: in this operating account, what is the impact", questioned João Duque.

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