Grasshopper: The latest club undergoing a Portuguese revolution

Portuguese players are increasingly in demand across Europe and beyond, with certain clubs even building their transfer strategy around recruiting some of the biggest stars from the country.

And in what is the latest in a long line of outfits to turn to Portuguese talents in an attempt to turn around their fortunes, Grasshopper Zurich add their name to the list of sides Jorge Mendes has on his catalogue.

The Portuguese superagent has an exclusive group of clubs from various different leagues from all across the continent that he has a particularly vested interest in, with the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest (England), Atletico Madrid and Valencia (Spain), Lazio (Italy), Monaco and Lille (France) and Benfica, Braga and Famalicao (Portugal) all in his portfolio, meaning that he has a significant monopoly across the European market.

His ventures have now branched out into Switzerland too, with Grasshopper, who last season played in the Swiss second division, narrowly missing out on promotion and an immediate return to the Swiss Super League, the latest club that are building a strong connection with Jorge Mendes and Portuguese players.

Grasshopper were recently taken over by a Hong Kong company owned by Jenny Wang, the wife of the current Wolves owner, sparking much speculation that the change in ownership would lead to increased transfer activity between the Swiss and English club - and so far, that has proven to be the case.

Sky Sun, a former board member at Wolves, quickly became the Grasshopper president, while Wolves talents such as Conor Ronan, Renat Sadashov and Ming-Yang Yang have also completed loan moves to the Swiss outfit from Nuno Espirito Santo’s side for the upcoming campaign.

And considering the strong connection that Wolves have with Jorge Mendes, who oversaw some of the biggest transfers in the club’s recent history, including the signings of the likes of Rui Patricio, Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves, it was only a matter of time until Grasshopper also turned to the same superagent to further their recruitment strategy.

Indeed, since the start of the new 2020-21 campaign, not only have the trio of Ronan, Sadashov and Ming made the move to the club, but Grasshopper have also been utilising Mendes’ Portuguese connection, starting with the appointment of Portuguese manager João Carlos Pereira, who was at Academica last season, as their new head coach.

They have also signed several Portuguese players to go with it, including the experienced former senior international Andre Santos on a free transfer. After a very solid season for Belenenses SAD in the Portuguese top flight last season, he will have surely had several offers from top tier clubs from across Europe - but opted to make the move to the Swiss second division - which is testament to the power that Jorge Mendes wields, and the project developing at Grasshopper.

Santos’ teammate last season, Nuno Pina Nunes, has also joined Grasshopper, this time on a loan deal. Though Nunes did not play as prominent a role at Belenenses last campaign, the defensive midfielder did play 11 games for the club after joining on loan from Chievo in January 2020, and will likely be a key player now he is at Grasshopper.

They have also brought in right back Nadjack from Rio Ave, another Gestifute client who would likely have been involved in proceedings at Rio Ave last campaign had it not been for a long-term knee injury. He failed to feature in a single match last season, but in 2018-19 was a key player for the club, playing 28 games across all competitions. If he comes back firing from his injury, he will be a fantastic signing.

Former Portugal youth international Cristian Ponde, who scored an impressive 8 goals in 10 games for the Portugal U19 team, has also joined Grasshopper, having been a free agent. The 25-year old former Sporting striker was most recently on the books of Ukrainian outfit Karparty Lviv and, though it was a largely unsuccessful spell at the club, you would expect him to be a success in the second tier of Swiss football.

And their latest signing shows another Jorge Mendes inspired touch, with Toti Gomes joining Wolverhampton Wanderers from Estoril, before being loaned straight out to Grasshopper.

With plenty of time remaining in the transfer window, it remains highly plausible that further Portuguese players will sign for Grasshopper in the near future too. For Portuguese football fans, Grasshopper may well be the latest club to keep a close eye on.