The Portuguese market has become an integral part of elite-level football: the good, the bad and the future

For a small country that houses a league deemed by many as so clearly inferior to the major four top flight divisions of the continental game, the breadth and depth of influence the Portuguese Primeira Liga has had on the global sport is beyond impressive, and this transfer window is undoubtedly already ramping it up to yet another level.

The respect the Portuguese Primeira Liga now holds is extraordinary. The days of questioning whether a player from the league is of sufficient quality is no longer deemed necessary, not after the continued success of the likes of Ruben Dias, Bruno Fernandes, Luis Díaz, Raul Jimenez and Ederson, added to the undoubted class of Portuguese stars who were originally trained in their home country, such as Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo, Diogo Jota and Ricardo Pereira, to name just a few.

To raise the question of whether someone from the Primeira Liga can 'step up' to the English Premier League (other leagues are available - and certainly applicable) is by now borderline insulting, such is the way the league has continually delivered ready-made superstars for other elite clubs to enjoy. And the global powerhouses are finally realising it, and unlocking the Portuguese market's phenomenal potential.

The scale of this season's transfer activity out of the Portuguese top flight has been beyond colossal. Already Darwin Nuñez has joined Liverpool from Benfica for up to €100M; Fabio Vieira has left league champions FC Porto for Arsenal for an eventual €40M; Vitinha has followed him out of the club for the same fee to join PSG; Sporting CP's Matheus Nunes and João Palhinha will make their own exits not too far behind; Al Musrati, Evanilson, Gonçalo Ramos and David Carmo are then among some of the other names who have been associated with a move abroad.

There will, undoubtedly, be others too. We are, at the time of writing, only in June. It is quite a preposterous level of transfer activity at this stage in the summer. The Portuguese transfer window, would you believe it, hasn't even officially opened.

What we are seeing this campaign, is not normal. A mass exodus from Portugal - more specifically, albeit not exclusively, from the Big Three in the country - is commonplace. Portugal has, for a long time, been a conveyer belt for talent. Year upon year, superstars make their departure for large sums of money, making way for a potential new diamond to step up in their place in preparation for another highly profitable sale. The cycle, so to speak, continues.

But this season, if you hadn't noticed, is different. And it doesn't really need to be pointed out. The year João Felix left Benfica for €127M was seismic, revolutionary. It changed the entire complexion of what Portuguese clubs are entitled to demand for their prized assets. It perhaps even triggered the path to get to this point.

But this window is, already, unparalleled. The level of spending at this point in the year, so early in the summer that the remnants of last season's exploits still live firmly in the memory and fresh in the minds of all football lovers, sets it up to already be one of the most profitable in history for the Big Three of Benfica, Porto and Sporting, and the fact that all of the aforementioned three outfits are making such high-calibre sales in the very same window is a remarkable occurrence.

There is, of course, palpable disappointment in many ways. To see top quality players leave their respective clubs and the Portuguese league at such a young age makes it increasingly difficult for Portuguese clubs to compete on the European stage. It is further evidence that the hope of seeing a Portuguese side lift the Champions League trophy, the holy grail of the sport, is increasingly a fantasy, and does give credence to the suggestion that the Portuguese league is lacking in prestige.

There is further anguish, particularly among the Porto fanbase, that their top talent is being sold below what they, and Portuguese football fans as a whole, perceive to be their market value.

40 million euros for a single player, only a matter of three of four years ago, would have been considered excellent business for a Portuguese club. It would have seemed harsh to criticise sales in that price range. But the market has shifted dramatically, the benchmarks have moved considerably. And Porto are not quite featuring among the elite in the world when it comes to operating in the transfer market.

When Porto fans see Darwin Nuñez sold for €100M - significantly more than they are set to receive for their two young stars in Fabio Vieira and Vitinha combined - it only compounds that frustration. And it is justified, particularly having also seen Luis Díaz sold in January for a value far below that which fans would have demanded.

Nevertheless, the continued success of Portuguese-based exports in the most lucrative leagues in the world is only a good thing for Portugal’s finest, and presents further opportunities to not only generate remarkable revenues, but also, maybe, at some point further down the line, lead to Portuguese clubs reaching a point where they are financially stable and finally able to consider making a genuine push to compete with the biggest and best in the world. That is, in many ways, the ultimate dream.

And the more these exports continue to perform overseas, the more strength is given to Portuguese clubs to be able to justify their increasingly hefty asking prices for their biggest and best players. Should Darwin Nuñez,Vitinha, Fabio Vieira and Matheus Nunes go on and be the stars they're expected to be at their new clubs, the more credible the Portuguese market becomes. And it is, already, remarkably credible.

Indeed, Portugal's stock in the footballing world is impressively high. Yet there is potential for it to get even higher. How sustainable this conveyor belt model widely deployed among Portuguese clubs will be remains to be seen, but for years - decades - now, it has continued to prove fruitful, economically for Portuguese clubs, professionally for the players nurtured, and competitively for the elite level clubs intelligent enough to give them a chance.