The striking parallels between Wolves and Famalicão
Famalicão's tremendous start to the season hasn't gone unnoticed across the continent, and many are wondering if they can keep this good form going.
This is their first season playing in Portugal’s top flight since 1994 - a lengthy 25 year absence from the elite level of the national game, and they are clearly making up for lost time.
And there are striking parallels between Famalicão and another club that has garnered a strong connection to Portuguese football – Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side have also made a tremendous rise over the last few seasons, earning promotion to the top flight of English football two years ago, before earning an incredible 7th place finish in their first season back in the Premier League, securing Europa League football as a result.
Famalicão have made an equally rapid and impressive rise through the ranks, having been playing in the second division of Portuguese football only last season, and in the fifth tier of Portuguese football as recently as 2009, relegated to the regional league alongside little-known Nogueirense FC the season before.
It isn't just their positive trajectory that they have in common though, but rather it is how they got there, and a man that links the two clubs very nicely indeed is none other than the industry's major superagent Jorge Mendes.
The Portuguese businessman has played a significant role in the recruitment of both clubs, helping each side get hold of players they ordinarily wouldn't be able to obtain.
Wolves, for example, while in the Championship, managed to acquire Ruben Neves, Diogo Jota and Ruben Vinagre, three highly promising Portuguese players, all clients of Jorge Mendes, all making the move to Wolves while still in the second division. And that's not to mention the then Porto manager Nuno Espirito Santo too, who made the trek to England whilst Wolves were still outside the top tier of the national game. All those moves would have been virtually impossible for any other team playing in the second division of any country in the world – but not for Wolves.
And Famalicão have done similar. Despite being a newly promoted side, it hasn't stopped them from showing tremendous ambition in the transfer market. The exceptional Fabio Martins is perhaps the standout name, but they have also brought in an array of promising young talent; Pedro Gonçalves from Wolves, Guga and Diogo Gonçalves from Benfica, Alex Centelles and Uros Racic from Valencia, Nehuen Perez and Nicolás Schiappacasse from Atletico Madrid – the list goes on. Absolutely no coincidence that all those names come from clubs that have established a long lasting relationship with Jorge Mendes.
They are also all so young. As Wolves did and have done, there has been a real emphasis on recruiting young, hungry players, and Famalicão have put together one of the youngest teams in all of Europe. Of the list just mentioned, Fabio Martins (25) is the oldest. All the others are no older than 21, which makes their heroics in the Primeira Liga all the more impressive.
They've also fully exploited the loan market, just as Wolves did when in the Championship. The old 'try before you buy'. Such an approach means some of the best young talent are willing to join, knowing full well that if things don't go to plan, they can always return to their parent clubs at the end of the season. While, if it goes right, as it is doing at Famalicão, it's mutually beneficial; the club gets success, and the players either stay on at a club performing to a high standard, or they earn the possibility of a lucrative move elsewhere.
It's a system often used with Jorge Mendes clients, and it's a strategy working perfectly so far for the Primeira Liga newcomers, as it has done for Wolves too.
The biggest and most important comparison between the two sides, though, is that they are both performing well and securing results to please the fans. Long may it continue.
