United fans would have said the same about Macheda and Januzaj after a few games they played for us also
Nuno Mendes
- Thread starter Adnan
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United fans would have said the same about Macheda and Januzaj after a few games they played for us also
Well the article says well be looking to get him for less that his clause which is 45M. Which may be misleading, but suggest the sum wont be far from it. I cant imagine Sporting letting him go for 10M when he has a 45M clause and contract until 2025, specially if he's highly rated.
You don't have to believe him but he has a good track record does @SportingCP96
SCP have financial issues which have been compounded by the pandemic and their President is Mr Varandas.
Nuno Mendes is one of 4 youth products to break through the first team under new coach Ruben Amorim with the others being Eduardo Quaresma (CB), Joelson Fernandes (RW/LW), Matheus Nunes (CM), Tiago Tomas (ST).
Of the players listed above the 3 with the highest ceiling are for sure Mendes, Joelson, Quaresma.
The topic is about Nuno Mendes so here is my take on him:
Nuno Mendes has been deployed as a wingback in Amorim's favored 3-4-3 Setup and of the 3 hot prospects he is the one currently shining the brightest. The kid is yet to have a bad game and he just turned 18. He has been so good in fact that the usual starter in that position (Acuna) has been put at LCB instead. Nuno Mendes IMO (Granted it is still early and this opinion can change after I have seen and analyzed him for a full season at Sporting) will be the starting left back for Portugal in the near future.
STRENGTHS: Explosiveness, Strength, Energy (He simply never looks tired and runs up and down the left flank), Positional and defensive awareness, Technical ability on the ball, Additionally he is a big boy for that position as he is about 6'0.
WEAKNESSES: Mendes at this stage does not offer much of final product. He is a willing crosser of the ball but this is an area of his game which he will need to improve on. Despite that whenever he gets it out wide he tries to cross it a lot which sometimes simply is not the right option. Haven't seen much of his shooting ability yet so that also an N/A for now.
In conclusion I have followed him and a few other boys through our youth setup and Mendes had already caught my eye in pre season last summer as he was clearly the standout guy of the young players and he seems to be doing the same now. With that being said though Mendes JUST turned 18 and a move to United would be career suicide. He needs to stay at Sporting another year or 2 depending on how he develops so he can gain experience and grow as a player. He is still so young and is too raw. He ONLY has 1 month of first team football under his belt with a little under 10 games. Do I believe he has a high ceiling? 100% and I believe he will be one of the best young left backs in the world but its early days to even think about a move.
I have been mentioning Nuno Mendes, Quaresma, and Joelson for a few weeks now so I am not surprised one of those names has hit the rumor mill and I am certain the same will happen with the other 2.
Hope this is of some help to you all in analyzing our young prospect. With due time and once I have seen enough games and footage I will make an adequate thread on him as I have done with others in the past.
@bond19821982 @charlenefan
Of the players listed above the 3 with the highest ceiling are for sure Mendes, Joelson, Quaresma.
The topic is about Nuno Mendes so here is my take on him:
Nuno Mendes has been deployed as a wingback in Amorim's favored 3-4-3 Setup and of the 3 hot prospects he is the one currently shining the brightest. The kid is yet to have a bad game and he just turned 18. He has been so good in fact that the usual starter in that position (Acuna) has been put at LCB instead. Nuno Mendes IMO (Granted it is still early and this opinion can change after I have seen and analyzed him for a full season at Sporting) will be the starting left back for Portugal in the near future.
STRENGTHS: Explosiveness, Strength, Energy (He simply never looks tired and runs up and down the left flank), Positional and defensive awareness, Technical ability on the ball, Additionally he is a big boy for that position as he is about 6'0.
WEAKNESSES: Mendes at this stage does not offer much of final product. He is a willing crosser of the ball but this is an area of his game which he will need to improve on. Despite that whenever he gets it out wide he tries to cross it a lot which sometimes simply is not the right option. Haven't seen much of his shooting ability yet so that also an N/A for now.
In conclusion I have followed him and a few other boys through our youth setup and Mendes had already caught my eye in pre season last summer as he was clearly the standout guy of the young players and he seems to be doing the same now. With that being said though Mendes JUST turned 18 and a move to United would be career suicide. He needs to stay at Sporting another year or 2 depending on how he develops so he can gain experience and grow as a player. He is still so young and is too raw. He ONLY has 1 month of first team football under his belt with a little under 10 games. Do I believe he has a high ceiling? 100% and I believe he will be one of the best young left backs in the world but its early days to even think about a move.
I have been mentioning Nuno Mendes, Quaresma, and Joelson for a few weeks now so I am not surprised one of those names has hit the rumor mill and I am certain the same will happen with the other 2.
Hope this is of some help to you all in analyzing our young prospect. With due time and once I have seen enough games and footage I will make an adequate thread on him as I have done with others in the past.
@bond19821982 @charlenefan
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Spot on. Way too soon.He will tell you it's too early for him to move..
For what its worth I just never really rated Dalot, Could he have or can he still become good? Possibly, but I don't see any outstanding qualities in him that would make him a potential world class right back, just my 2 cents.
Still 10M seems a very small amount dont you think so? Anyway well see, if he's really a talent I wouldnt mind us paying up to 20. Maybe give them Dalot in a swap?
Varandas is the 1st/2nd worst Sporting CP president in history depending on which fan you ask and he would be stupid enough to let him go for cheap.
In fact for the simple reason that he let the most toxic man In football (Jorge Mendes) dealing with the club I believe the magic number would be 15M.
Varandas is as Incompetent as they come. I will stop here before I say things that will get me banned about this POS that's running our club
Varandas is the 1st/2nd worst Sporting CP president in history depending on which fan you ask and he would be stupid enough to let him go for cheap.
In fact for the simple reason that he let the most toxic man In football (Jorge Mendes) dealing with the club I believe the magic number would be 15M.
Varandas is as Incompetent as they come. I will stop here before I say things that will get me banned about this POS that's running our club
Hahaha nice to know, any other portuguese talents you can recomend? That league seems to develop great talents every season.
Great stuff as always!
this lad reminds me a bit of a taller evra. Good engine. Fearless and direct. It’s Probably too early to move to United but if we are keen or afraid he’ll go elsewhere if we don’t act now then we will get him. Sporting are always up for the cash. What an academy you guys have
There seems to be some rumours that arsenal are looking at Joelson this summer too.
We did play it against Chelsea, badly. And we've used it against some of the big teams this season to better effect
You could be right..
As always very good insight
Named 2 others in the the long post I made about Mendes
Yes Joelson is another one in the rumor mill but for Arsenal but tbh I could see Arsenal making a move like that given there track record of missing out on young talents in the past which they openly have admitted.Great stuff as always!
this lad reminds me a bit of a taller evra. Good engine. Fearless and direct. It’s Probably too early to move to United but if we are keen or afraid he’ll go elsewhere if we don’t act now then we will get him. Sporting are always up for the cash. What an academy you guys have
There seems to be some rumours that arsenal are looking at Joelson this summer too.
Appreciate it mate.
Makes sense really if he is highly rated and is a good young prospect, Williams to his favoured position to battle it out with AWB and Mendes as a back up/ competing with shaw . Dalot looks to be on limited time .
Dalot was incredible at youth level, one of the best talents and a standout player of a very good Portugal generation. Just made an awful career move but the talent was there for sure. I still think he can turn into a top player but he needs to leave United as he’s not good enough to play everyweek and he’ll never be good enough without playing time.
Looking at the young Portuguese talents of the past few years it’s easy to see what works and what doesn’t. Sanches went straight to Bayern, Dalot straight to United, André Silva for loads of money to Milan, Felix to Atlético, Gedson to Spurs, etc...
Then there’s Neves who went to Wolves in the championship, Bernardo at Monaco, Bruno with us, Ruben Dias and Semedo at Benfica, Guerreiro at Lorient, etc and all of those became ready to move to bigger clubs as time went on when they would have flopped if they had gone there straight away.
These stupid rumours start appearing and suddenly instead of waiting 3/4 years and realizing their potential at the best possible place for them, the players start getting the agents and family members whispering to them how good it would be to make 10 times as much money to sit on the bench of a big club and waste their talent away. I’m tired of seeing kids from the academy make awful career moves so hopefully these guys that are starting to play don’t make the same mistakes.
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For sure an early move like that hurts especially when you haven't even played enough first team games at the team you were at bit still. In fairness a few of those guys mentioned were a lot of hype.
Dalot was incredible at youth level, one of the best talents and a standout player of a very good Portugal generation. Just made an awful career move but the talent was there for sure. I still think he can turn into a top player but he needs to leave United as he’s not good enough to play everyweek and he’ll never be good enough without playing time.
Looking at the young Portuguese talents of the past few years it’s easy to see what works and what doesn’t. Sanches went straight to Bayern, Dalot straight to United, André Silva for loads of money to Milan, Felix to Atlético, Gedson to Spurs, etc...
Then there’s Neves who went to Wolves in the championship, Bernardo at Monaco, Bruno with us, Ruben Dias and Semedo at Benfica, Guerreiro at Lorient, etc and all of those became ready to move to bigger clubs as time went on when they would have flopped if they had gone there straight away.
Like I said though Dalot could become a good player still as he is still a young player but I was never fully convinced on him just my personal take.
When it comes to the bigger moves though its more so the agents pushing the move then the actual player themselves IMO.
wasn't Dalot highly rated as well. Feels like deja vu. Well if they decide to buy him I hope it works out a lot better.
Would this be the third young fullback we would sign this window?
Potentially, but the kid signed from Real Madrid might suit being a CB or DM longterm due to his height. Looks very tall for a 17 year old and might still be growing.
€45 for an 18 year old player? I can't see it.
Good post, @Peyroteo and agreed, I was one of the most excited posters on here when we signed Dalot, I watched him in a few youth tournaments with Portugal and he looked amazing. I still think he can be good enough.
What your post also highlights is how special kids like Greenwood and Ansu Fati are. It’s rare to have a kid perform like that consistently straight away at a massive club. I also could have added Vinicius and Rodrygo but at least they had decent enough experience in Brazil, Kubo and Ødegaard are proving themselves on loan and I’d be shocked if Reinier doesn’t go on loan this coming season.
What your post also highlights is how special kids like Greenwood and Ansu Fati are. It’s rare to have a kid perform like that consistently straight away at a massive club. I also could have added Vinicius and Rodrygo but at least they had decent enough experience in Brazil, Kubo and Ødegaard are proving themselves on loan and I’d be shocked if Reinier doesn’t go on loan this coming season.
Exciting times ahead!
That’s his release clause. Not his asking price.
Signing a relatively unknown 18 year old left back is hardly a priority though.
For anyone that's interested..
I like it when we are linked with players from Sporting. There’s a certain nostalgia to it after Ronaldo, Nani and Bruno all of whom turned out to be very good players for us.
Looks an amazing prospect, I doubt we're in for him though.
What about Rojo?
He's not a Sportinguista, so doesn't count..
Read somewhere that Ole is looking for a natural left footer to play in LB and hence moving Williams to right makes more sense.
Is he fast and good on the ball?
Who?
Maybe Ole wants to covert Shaw into a Center back.
Neither is Bruno though, he came from Italy and did not play at Sporting growing up in Portugal
But I get what you mean and Rojo aside there is something about Sporting players joining us
He has a quick first step for sure and his reading of the game at just 18 is what makes him stand out. You would not think he was 18 out there.
He is not afraid to have the ball in his feet and always looks to move it forward, he does need to learn when to make the more simple pass as opposed to a risky one rho.
Kid has been solids at the back at just 18. We have only conceded in 2 games since the restart.