2024/25 Portuguese season countdown: four clubs you might have overlooked this summer

The Primeira Liga kicks off on Friday evening as champions Sporting host Rio Ave at Alvalade.

While much of the preseason talk has focused on the Big Three and the fight for the title, plenty of fascinating storylines and eye-catching off-season transfer activity among the rest of the 15 teams in Portugal’s top flight has whetted the appetite ahead of the big kick-off.

Albert and Barney Carter-Phillips (@LongBallFutebol) pick out four teams, Rio Ave, Estoril, Nacional and Estrela da Amadora, whose summer incomings have raised eyebrows among the Portuguese football community. 

 

RIO AVE - Rio Ave Futebol Clube

Rio Ave have had a summer packed full of exciting transfer business. In December 2023 they were hit with a transfer ban leaving them unable to register new players for the next two windows. Since the ban was lifted in January 2024, they’ve made a point of making up for lost time. Combined with new financial backing from Evangelos Marinakis – the Greek owner of Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest – they’ve made a number of notable transfers this window alone.

The Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos connections were leveraged to bring in attacking midfielder Brandon Aguilera, and England U17 world cup winning centre back Jonathan Panzo from Forest, whilst Greek winger Marios Vrousai arrived from Olympiacos.

Several former Primeira Liga players were brought back to Portugal as well, with ex Vizela star Kiko Bondoso returning from Israel on loan, former Braga midfielder João Novais joining on a free transfer from Alanyaspor, striker Clayton who used to play for Casa Pia also captured on loan from Vasco Da Gama, and perhaps most excitingly Tiago Morais. The 20-year-old forward impressed so much at Boavista that he earned a move to Ligue 1 side Lille, and his addition on loan will excite the fans.

There were also interesting moves from further afield as Ole Pohlman joined from Borussia Dortmund for a reported €1.6M, and Cezary Miszta – a Polish goalkeeper from Legia Warsaw – was signed for around €1M, with more transfer fees spent on the likes of Karem Zoabi, an 18-year-old Israeli striker, and the aforementioned Marios Vrousai.

Overall Rio Ave have so far signed 14 players with an impressive total outlay (according to Transfermarkt) of €4M. That type of expenditure is not expected at a club like Rio Ave, despite the combined €3.75M raised by the sales of Costinha and Yakubu Aziz, although the precision of the numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt considering Transfermarkt’s reliability.

Those exciting signings, alongside the retention of manager Luís Freire, give good reason for excitement around Rio Ave heading into the new season.

 

ESTORIL – Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia

Estoril are one of many Primeira Liga clubs to change managers during the off season. Previous manager Vasco Seabra was sacked at the surprise of many who saw him as having done a good job keeping Estoril from being relegated last season. That surprise was furthered when his replacement was revealed to be a 38-year-old Scottish coach in Ian Cathro, a man who hadn’t managed a senior men’s side since the 2016/17 season, in his only stint in charge as a manager and one that Cathro himself acknowledges as far from successful.

Cathro is no stranger to Portuguese football however, having worked as Nuno Espírito Santo’s assistant coach at Rio Ave, before following him to Valencia, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham, and Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. The pair met when Cathro was just 24 at a UEFA B Licence course in Scotland, Cathro impressed Nuno so much that when he was given the opportunity to manage Rio Ave a year later, he called Cathro to be his assistant coach. Cathro speaks fluent Portuguese from his time at Rio Ave, which will aid his adjustment to Primeira Liga football. It is an intriguing appointment and Cathro’s progress will likely be closely monitored both in Portugal and abroad.

Aside from the managerial change, it hasn’t been a blockbuster summer for Estoril. Only the arrival of Hélder Costa on a free transfer will trouble the headline writers. The former Benfica winger has an impressive CV having played in the top division in France, England and Spain and he will bring quality to Estoril’s front line, as well as being a player Cathro worked with at Al-Ittihad.

A few other players have arrived on either free transfers or nominal transfer fees. Felix Bacher, an Austrian centre-back from WSG Tirol, and Kévin Boma a Togan, defender signed from Rodez in Ligue 2 will try and fill the void left by João Basso who returned to Brazil over the summer. 

 

NACIONAL DA MADEIRA – Clube Desportivo Nacional

At the beginning of last season many predicted a Madeiran club would be returning to the Primeira Liga, but not many however predicted it would be Nacional over Marítimo. The Alvinegros finished second in the table, just two points behind champions Santa Clara to secure a return to the top flight after a two-year absence.

They did so in impressive fashion under manager Tiago Margarido, scoring 66 goals to finish as top scorers in the league. They have been very active in the transfer market in order to give themselves every chance of surviving back in the Portuguese top flight.

There’s Primeira Liga experience in the form of Bruno Costa, the former Porto and Paços de Ferreira midfielder.  It’s hard to forget how impressive he was for Paços de Ferreira back in 2020/21, earning a move to Porto but then never finding a way into the team. A bizarre loan to Valenciennes in France followed last summer, before a second loan for the second half of last season to Vizela. Neither of those temporary moves helped his career, but he could find a new home at Nacional and get back to his best.

Nigel Thomas, the young, Dutch, ex-Paços winger returns to Portugal having spent a season with Viborg in Denmark. It took him a while to find his feet last time in Portugal but ended his time here with a few standout goals and dribbles and is another player who will potentially benefit from an extended run of games in the starting XI.

There are some new faces as well, including Garcia, a 22-year-old right back signed from Palmeiras on loan. Palmieras have had a bit of a summer in terms of selling on their young stars and although Garcia struggled to make it into Palmieras’s first team he has still built up profile over the last few season as an exciting attacking full back.

Also from Brazil, 25-year-old attacking midfielder Daniel Penha has been brought in. Still contracted with Atletico-MG in Brazil but coming off the back of a statement season in Australia with Western United, where he was voted player of the season for the club, the attacking midfielder looks to have a bit of star quality that will surely boost Nacional’s survival hopes.

There’s also an intriguing signing from England in the form of Arvin Appiah. The 23-year-old winger came through Nottingham Forest’s academy before, surprisingly, moving to Almeira in Spain for just under £9M. Since then he has failed to find consistency, flitting between several loan moves and limited opportunities in Almeira’s first team, but clearly sold on the possibility of rebuilding his career in Portugal. 

 

ESTRELA DA AMADORA - Club Football Estrela Amadora

If you want to see an example of a dream transfer window, look no further than Estrela. Although this article is based on events you might have missed over the summer, there’s one particular signing made by Estrela which has caught attention worldwide.

2016 European Champion and 4-time English Premier League winner Luís Nani returns to Portugal to play for his hometown club, Amadora. It’s a fairytale story and one of the biggest signings Estrela have ever made. The question remains at what level is Nani still capable of playing, considering he hasn’t made significant impacts at his most recent clubs Adana Demirspor in Turkey, Melbourne Victory in Australia, and Venezia in Italy. At 37 years of age can Nani make a sufficient impact to take Estrela to a higher level than they achieved last season? His impact on shirt sales has undoubtedly already been felt by the cash registers in the club shop.

Nani isn’t the only familiar face arriving in Amadora, nor the only former Sporting player. Alan Ruiz joins him from Sport Recife. He spent the 2022/23 season playing for Arouca where he impressed in the Portuguese top flight so he could be a very shrewd signing. There’s a familiar name in the form of Ferro as well, the former Benfica centre-back joining from Hadjuk Split in Croatia.

Alongside the new signings there’s a new face in the dugout as Filipe Martins takes his first job since his surprise departure from Casa Pia. He was well respected at the Lisbon minnows and helped the club to promotion to the top flight. Estrela is a great opportunity for him to continue his good work in the Primeira Liga. With the quality of the new signings and an exciting new manager, expectations will be raised for Estrela da Amadora this season.