Squad value sky-rocketing 

©IMAGO

FC Porto are on course for their 31st Portuguese league title and their first since 2022. If the Dragons beat surprise package Alverca on Saturday evening, the title is theirs. Thanks to an outstanding transfer window and a shrewd choice of manager, Porto are once again able to compete with Sporting and Benfica and have increased their squad value by almost a third across the season.

After 31 match-days, Porto top the Liga Portugal standings. They have a seven-point cushion over Benfica and a ten-point lead over Sporting, who have a game in hand. The championship is all but secured for coach Francesco Farioli’s side. After Porto were left trailing the Lisbon clubs by a significant margin last season and had two managers in Vítor Bruno and Martín Anselmi, the Italian has restored the club’s competitiveness.

“For me, Farioli’s influence has been enormous, as demonstrated by the fact that he has managed to win the title in his first year at the club with a completely revamped squad. In other words: FC Porto have been successful in a year in which they had not only a new manager but also a completely new team,” explains Gonçalo Tristão Santos, Portugal expert at Transfermarkt. Farioli arrived from Ajax, where he had narrowly missed out on the league title last season. In his 50 matches at Porto, he averaged 2.38 points – only Artur Jorge (2.44) and the current president André Villas-Boas (2.62) fared better.

TM expert: “Porto don’t play the most spectacular football”

Porto’s major asset this season is their strong defence. The backline, led by Portugal’s national goalkeeper Diogo Costa, has conceded just 15 goals, with Costa keeping 19 clean sheets. In central defence, two new signings – Jan Bednarek and Arsenal loanee Jakub Kiwior – have impressed, whilst 41-year-old Thiago Silva bolstered the defence in the winter transfer window. However, the Brazilian has to take a back seat to the two Poles.

“FC Porto don’t play the most spectacular football in the world. Of course they play very well, but they aren’t a particularly attacking side, and they often know that there are moments in the game when they need to be pragmatic rather than spectacular,” says Santos. “Ultimately, they are a results-oriented team, but I don’t say that lightly: it shows intelligence to know when to push forward and when to secure the result. And FC Porto do that very well.”

Offensively, FC Porto are difficult to assess, as 20 different players have already found the net this season – a league record. The best of them is striker Samu Aghehowa, who scored 13 goals in 20 matches, but has been out since mid-February with a cruciate ligament tear. However, Farioli’s team knows how to make up for this loss. The goals are being provided by Victor Froholdt (11 goals), Gabri Veiga (11), right-back Alberto Costa (10), William Gomes (9), Oskar Pietuszewski (7), Borja Sainz (7) and Pepê (7).

Porto’s new signings have impressed across the board

According to Santos, Porto’s success this season is not only down to Farioli, but also to the quality of the signings. “One of the main factors behind this success is linked to the club’s performance in the transfer market. Excellent players were signed in the summer, and on top of that, very targeted and extremely important signings were made during the winter transfer window. It seems as though every new player has contributed something to the team, regardless of whether they were first-team regulars or not.

“The success rate with new signings has been outstanding, and credit for that goes to President André Villas-Boas and the entire club management.” A total of €102 million was invested in new players, including Froholdt (€20m, Copenhagen), Alberto Costa (€15m, Juve), Veiga (€15m, Al-Ahli), Sainz (€13.3m, Norwich), Pietuszewski (€8m, Jagiellonina), Bednarek (€7.5m, Southampton) and Kiwior (on loan, Arsenal), all of whom proved to be successful signings. In return, the club received €77.8 million in revenue from sales including Francisco Conceição (€32m, Juventus), Otávio (€17m, Paris Saint-Germain) and João Mário (€12m, Juventus).

Porto’s strong season and the players’ positive development saw the squad value climb from €325 million to €427 million – an increase of 31 per cent. The biggest gainers were Froholdt (+€18m to €30m), Gomes (+€11m to €20m), Pietuszewski (+€8m to €20m), Sainz (+€8m to €20m) and Veiga (+€7m to €25m). For Santos, Froholdt – who has also been linked with Eintracht Frankfurt – stands out: “In my opinion, Froholdt was the standout player at FC Porto this season. He was signed from Copenhagen in the summer and immediately secured a place in the starting line-up. He is a very versatile midfielder who seems to be everywhere on the pitch. For me, he was the best player in the league and the best new signing of the season in the Portuguese league.”

Following a chaotic season last year, FC Porto have made key decisions and are now looking forward to their 31st league title. Farioli’s squad features many exciting talents such as Froholdt, Rodrigo Mora and Pietuszewski, who are likely to be in the spotlight of Europe’s top clubs this summer. Even before the impending conclusion of the title race, the 2025/26 season has already been a resounding success for the Dragons.