Top ten signings under Hugo Viana at Sporting CP

One departure confirmed during the international break is that of director of football Hugo Viana who will be off to Manchester City in the summer to take over from Txiki Begiristain in the same capacity. Viana's current role at Sporting will be removed and replaced with the role of general director of football with Bernando Palmeiro the sports lawyer who previously worked for the club between 2020 and 2023 already confirmed for the position. He will report direct to Varandas and work alongside current scouting director Flávio Costa, presuming he's not about to leave to join Viana anytime soon. 

How much of Viana's perceived success in his time at Sporting is down to Rúben Amorim and vice versa is clearly open to debate. The €10m paid to Sporting Braga for the then untested coaches services certainly looks like money well spent given he's delivered two titles in the past four seasons and could well add a third this season. Viana started his current role with Sporting in 2018. I don't know if he would have been behind the hiring of José Pesiro on July 1st, 2018 but he only lasted until November 1st, a grand total of four months. Tiago Fernandes held the reins for 9 days before Dutchman Marcel Keizer took over on November 12th, 2018. His tenure was over less than 10 months later. Leonel Pontes had a 19 day stint as boss before Silas came in on September 27th, 2019 not even lasting six months before Rúben Amorim's appointment on March 4th, 2020. To say it was a shit show during that period would actually be putting it politely. That should be caveated by the fact that despite a win percentage of just 59.52% Marcel Keizer did somehow manage to deliver both the 2018/19 editions of the Taça de Portugal and Taça da Liga. Amorim's appointment was a roll of the dice. You could only argue otherwise in hindsight with the knowledge of what he has subsequently achieved. The success he has achieved was by no means a given. The fact they paid €10m for his services worked in his favour. It brought him one thing the previous full time appointments weren't and that's the time to implement his philosophy. 

Let's be honest there have been some good signings and there have been some truly awful signings under his watch. Jesé made Ricardo Esgaio look like a baller. The €2m loan fee paid to PSG for his services has got to go down as the worst signing for me. They couldn't even cut short the loan as PSG said we don't want him back. I've got a good memory but there's an awful lot of players who I read the names of and I don't even remember them at all which is not the most telling trait of Viana's abilities in the transfer market. 

I've seen a few places do the top ten signings under his watch but I don't need to be blowing smoke up his arse and I've not agreed with them, so let's do a deep dive at the record.

2018/19 

Raphinha is the stand out name and I've gone on record as saying he was a large factor as to why Bruno Fernandes looked as good as he did at points during the season they combined. Worryingly he'd be the only one of two players out of 15 (16 if you include Ribeiro on loan and then making the move permanently) I'd say were any sort of a success, the other being Stefan Ristovski. Abdoulay Diaby, Bruno Gaspar, Idrissa Doumbia, Christian Borja, Nemanja Gudelj, Tiago Ilori (dog shite), Emiliano Viviano, Renan Ribeiro, Luiz Phelyppe, Nani, Marcelo, Filipe Chaby and Stefano Sturaro (seriously who?). Was Stefan Ristovski actually that good or am I being kind? Let's allow him 2 hits from 15 so far.

2019/20

OK we maybe all got misty eyed over Luís Neto's departure last summer but he was never great for Sporting if we're all being truly honest with ourselves. Luciano Vietto did OK but out of the 9 players in that summer I'd personally not rank any of them as a success. Alongside Neto and Vietto, this was the summer of the previously mentioned loan signing of Jesé. Andraz Sporar, Valentin Rosier, Rafael Camacho (spectacular waste of money), Eduardo Henrique, Yannick Bolasie and Fernando. Who the fuck was Fernando on loan from Shaktar? So that's three from 24 in two seasons. 

2020/21

If Viana is to hang his hat on any season in terms of transfer business then this could is the one. I'll quickly discount the names of Rúben Vinagre, Antunes, Bruno Tabata and João Pereira. That leaves 8 of 12. Antonio Adán - the first title winning version of the Spanish goalkeeper and the fact he was a free transfer you could argue makes him Viana's best signing. However it gets better because you've got Pedro Gonçalves in there who again is in for a shout at the best ever signing under Viana's watch. Pedro Porro, Matheus Reis, Zouhair Feddal and João Mario are all solid signings or loanees. Nuno Santos and Paulinho also joined and I'd give each one blinding season during their tenure but please don't try the argument with me that either have been truly great signings. Had Paulinho not departed a title winner last summer it would have been good riddance and you'll not ever convince me otherwise and the season before last Nuno Santos peaked and fell away like his barnet into relative obscurity. I'm going to allow Viana a 75% success rating for this season. That compared to 12.5% in his first two. Rome wasn't built in a day. 

So far I've put just Pedro Gonçalves, Adán and Raphinha on my list of stand out signings. I'm a hard man to impress clearly. 

2021/22

Pablo Sarabia's loan move from PSG for €2m is right up there. An incredible bit of business and it's a shame they couldn't have afforded his wages to make that signing permanent. So he makes my top ten as does Matheus Reis whose loan move was made permanent. Reis is how I want my willy to be by the time I'm 60 years of age - solid and dependable and still more than capable of causing some mischief and getting stuck in at the end of the day. 

Eight players in total. Let's get rid of João Virgínia straight away. Gonçalo Esteves promised much but ultimately never quite had enough to satisfy Amorim that he could fulfill his potential. Islam Slimani's return was a train wreck. That leaves Manuel Ugarte who was no Palhinha and selling him to PSG for €60m was one of the heists of the century and retribution for the €2m loan fee paid for Jesé. James Brown would have called it the big payback. He did OK and would make the list of good signings because of the profit when selling him on. Marcus Edwards as we all know flatters to deceive. Overall he still has enough credit in the bank to be considered a good signing but that thread is being tugged at and coming undone rapidly since the second half of last season. That leaves Ricardo Esgaio and I'd lose any credibility (if indeed I ever had any with readers) if I tried to argue the merits of success with his signing so let's say a 50% overall success rate. However 12 players in two seasons would make a starting XI and a substitute.

I'll add Sarabia and Reis to the three so far. 

2022/23 

Twelve signings in total. Rúben Vinagre's move was made permanent for €10m. That's right up there with the worst signings given that level of investment. Ditto for Jerry St Juste at another €10m having suffered a horrific string of injuries. The irony being if he could stay fit he'd probably have made my top ten, but he can't so sorry Jerry. Mateo Tanlongo (won a competition maybe to play for Sporting?), Sotiris (Coldplay because he was all yellow), Franco Israel (pre this season not having him at all), Héctor Bellerín (shit tash), Rochinha (see Tanlongo) and Arthur Gomes (there was a player in there somewhere). That's eight off the list straight away. Trincão makes it nine because he's on loan at this point. So that leaves Ousmane Diomande (can't write his name down quick enough), Pedro Porro and Hidemasa Morita. So that's a 25% success rate. 

I'll add Diomande, Morita and Porro to make it eight. 

2023/24 

Into the second title winning season. Viktor Gyökeres who has to be the number one signing even after just one full season. I don't need to write any more words about this man, I've barely any new ones to write as it is. Morten Hjulmand makes the cut but again he's no Palinha but I like his passion and desire to win. Trincão was now a permanent signing and he was superb second half of last season and has started in this in the same manner so he gets the thumbs up. Iván Fresneda at €9m looks like Viana had his pants pulled down. Awful bit of business as it stands. That leaves Koba Koindredi and Rafael Pontelo and the less said about those two the better. So back to 50% but helped by the smaller number of signings made. 

Gyökeres and Trincão just pushing out Hjulmand to make my final two on my top ten signings. 

So to recap: Gyökeres, Trincao, Diomande, Morita, Porro, Sarabia, Reis, Adán, Raphinha and Gonçalves. I bet those ten don't match anyone else's top ten List. Let me know yours. Oh and hands up I'd included Feddal at one point, forgot I'd put Reis in and had a top eleven. So that's probably even more controversial. 

2024/25

This brings us right up to date and it would be poor form on my part mid October to rate them as a success or a failure. Conrad Harder certainly gives me the impression he is capable of filling the boots of Gyökeres next summer. If he got half the goal tally of the Swede we'd all call that a success. Zeno Debast - Jury is out. I think we'll double our money before some other club discovers he's not actually that great. Kovacevic in goal - He's being kept out by Franco Israel which should probably tell us all something if we're being completely honest with ourselves. Finally Maxi Araujo - I'd take Arthur Gomes over him in the same position at one third of the price. A combination of conjecture on my part and definitely too early to say. 

Conclusion 

Well I think that's conclusive proof that the shits far outweighed the hits. To be fair he's been playing with Sporting money not oil money and his approach has adapted from lobbing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. Viana has been afforded time, trust and most importantly Rúben Amorim. Amorim's in turn is benefitting from an academy system which is akin to sticking your hand down the back of the sofa and keep pulling out £50 notes; Nuno Mendes, Gonçalo Inácio Eduardo Quaresma, Geovany Quenda… Amorim's trust and careful nurturing has meant time and time again he's not had to go to the market. Sporting don't sign players on loan anymore either in case anyone had failed to notice. I'd have to work out the total number of academy players Amorim has played but I'm sure at one point last season it was reported as 21 and growing. Let's imagine that Manchester City were found guilty of breaching Premier League rules, Pep says bollocks to this and they were handed a transfer ban as punishment. You can imagine the phone call between two old friends in the summer. 'Do you fancy coming to look around my new sweetshop?' Our academy is great but City's is going to be like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for Amorim. Even the oompa loompas would get a run out wide left and right. I'm still not totally convinced by Amorim but he gives kids a chance to prove themselves, he's clearly a great motivator and leader of men / boys. In Portugal you can afford most weeks to not be at the races when you're a Sporting, Porto or a dirty pigeon and still be good enough to take all three points. He's constantly found out in Europe but then again so is Pep in the really big games. Difference is Pep overthinks things and Manchester City have lost because Pep beat Pep. Amorim on the other hand in Europe and a string of derbies and Classicos hasn't got it right. He's not Pep but then again let's be honest no coach really comes close. They have different skill sets both of which produce results in the league's they currently ply their trades. If Amorim went to City you would bet on one thing alone and that would be that he'd happily be giving their academy prospects an awful lot of game time. Whether he'd win trophies would remain to be seen.

You don't have to agree with my ten but unlike the lists shown elsewhere I can at least lay claim to having watched all the games during that period to have formed my opinion and looked for ten players their readers might have heard of. I'm not entirely sure I'd not have Feddal over Porro.