With the new season less than a month away, Portimonense have become active on the transfer market to compensate for both recently confirmed, as well as potentially yet to come, departures.
Definitely gone are Mauricio (Al-Batin, Saudi Arabia), Hackman (Gil Vicente) and Henrique on loan to Farense, with Willyan, who has suitors from Russia, Italy and Turkey, and top scorer Beto likely to follow. The latter is wanted by Bundesliga side Wolfsburg as well as Porto, who are said to be prepared to let former fan favourite Nakajima return on loan to ‘sweeten’ the deal.
On the verge of coming in are a host of players headed up by 20-year-old Brazilian forward Samuel and 19-year-old compatriot Renato Junior, experienced winger Carlinhos and young Benfica B midfielder Jocu. Also on the radar are Tiago Dantas and David Bruno while a close eye is being kept on the situation of Farense’s Scottish playmaker Ryan Gauld.
To date pre-season friendlies with Covilhã on July 10 and 18 of this month have been confirmed while it is hoped to arrange a match with Sporting Lisbon who will have their training camp in Lagos between July 11 and 22.
Euro 2020: Is it ‘coming home’?
England easily dispatched surprise quarter-finalists Ukraine 4-0 in Rome with captain Harry Kane contributing two strikes after having rediscovered his scoring touch against Germany. Gareth Southgate’s quest to win a first major trophy since 1966 continued last night (Wednesday, played after the Resident went to press) with only Denmark- who are successfully reviving the spirit of ’92 which saw them overcome heavy favourites Germany after replacing war-torn Yugoslavia at the last minute- standing in the way of a Sunday Wembley final date with Italy.
The Italians beat Belgium 2-1 to set up a meeting with three-time winners Spain, who came through a penalty shoot-out against Switzerland, last Tuesday evening.
That match, drawn 1-1 after 90 minutes, went into extra time and was then decided by another spot-kick competition which saw the ‘Squadra Azzurra’ triumph 4-2.
By SKIP BANDELE
