Porto started the preseason this Monday with a lot of new features, with the Espanyol standing out Andoni Zubizarreta as the new sports director to relaunch the club under the recently inaugurated presidency of the former coach André Villas-Boas.
Although many of their numbers are with their respective teams in the Euro Cup or the America’s Cup, preseason work has been started by five Spanish part of the squad: Nico González, Ivan Marcano, Ivan Jaime, Fran Navarro and Toni Martínez.
High expectations
Porto begin a campaign with high expectations. Villas-Boas and Zubizarreta They went this morning to the ‘Olival’ Training Center in Porto to greet all the players and the coaching staff.
The Porto bench also presents new features, because, after the non-renewal of Sergio Conceição, The technical command is assumed by his second, Victor Bruno.
Pepe couldn’t keep up and was losing weight
Among the casualties, as the club wanted to reduce the wage bill, was that of the 41-year-old veteran. Pepe, former Real Madrid player who is in the Eurocup with the Portuguese team and, so far, has not announced what he will do in the future.
Because they were called up to Brazil in the Copa América, they did not participate in the preseason Evanilson, Pepê and Wendell.
The same thing is happening among the Canadian team Stephen Eustaquio, which offers its best version in the Copa de América and is already in the quarterfinals.
The Mexican Jorge Sanchez He will be joining in the next few days since, although he is focused on his country’s team, they were eliminated in the group stage of the Copa América.
Furthermore, Porto began pre-season work without its best winger, the Portuguese Francisco Conceição, who is with the ‘seleçap das quinas’ in the German Euro Cup, like the goalkeeper Diogo Costa.
Five Spaniards
In the Porto squad there is a list of five Spaniards who will start the preseason this Monday.
The oldest is the Cantabrian central defender Ivan Marcano, 37 years old, who ended the season with muscle problems, for which he underwent surgery in Madrid on May 28 and is still in the recovery phase. He faces the final year of his contract with the club.
Nico González (22 years old), trained at La Masía, and Ivan Jaime (23 years old), from the quarry of Málaga, are two bets from Porto for the core. Both have contracts until 2028.
on top, Fran Navarro, 26 years old and trained at Valencia CF, he played last season on loan at Olympiacos and returned to Porto to earn a place in the eleven. Victor Bruno. He also has a contract until 2028.
At the top, one of the veterans of the squad is the Murcian Toni Martinez, linked to Porto since 2020 and has a contract until 2027.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
