Gelson Martins – Sporting CP
Gelson is one of those players that I don’t know where to rate him, I loved his Euro U-19 and I liked some of the moments of the season, although he never got all the minutes. He played 40 games this season but was only a starter in a bit more than half of those games. I like his style, the typical Sporting winger, a bit like Mané. But in another hand he tends to be inconsistent during the game, disappearing from time to time and not being a factor for some minutes. Portuguese wingers are all very good and it will be fun to see who wins the chance to be on the pitch when the time comes.
Nuno Santos – SL Benfica
Nuno is the player that had to leave the Euro U-19 after getting injured and was replaced by Romário Baldé. It was very unlucky and he really deserved that competition. One year later, he comes back to the group, after a season full of success with 36 games and 8 goals scored. Nuno plays as a left winger, known for his incredible left foot, he has a bit of all, speed, technical skills, passing skills, dribbling skills and doesn’t hide himself from defensive duties. I don’t think he will be a starter in this team but Nuno will always be an option and will bring a lot of good things if his name is called.
Ivo Rodrigues – FC Porto/ Vitória SC
I have always been so critical of Ivo, I never thought that he would become big, I still have a lot of doubts but at the moment I can appreciate what he brings. Even if he has many flaws and in my honest opinion a low potential, Ivo is arguably one of the best wingers of this generation right now. Ivo gives Portugal a great 1vs1 potential and these situations may lead to easy goals or at least goal situations. Once again, he can be a player that disappears from the game during so moments but most important, Ivo does some questionable decisions on a regular basis and this is what he should improve.
João Vigário – Vitória SC
João is an adition to this group, after playing 36 games and scoring 4 goals, he was given the chance to be part of this team. Hélio Sousa, the coach, sees in him a very good replacement to André Silva. Both are similar players in my opinion, once again style wise, potential and quality there are very different. But Vigário is also a very mobile player, who can play with his team and helping his teammates to be more successful. He seems to like the kind of striker who likes to pressure the first steps of the offensive phase from the opponent and this is a key factor in the Portuguese U-20 team strategy.
Gonçalo Guedes – SL Benfica
The next this, the next that… All calm down with the hype and comparisons, Gonçalo Guedes is the best player of his age (only 18 years old), he is one of the players with the biggest potential, along with Rony Lopes, Bernardo Silva and Rúben Neves, but he is not Ronaldo. I think that early hype tends to destroy players, not that they turn to be bad but because they still can be great but not what people expected them to be, they expected best of all time. With that said, Gonçalo is one of the most exciting prospects in the team and it is always a joy to watch him perform. Gonçalo can do so many things, be creative in the wing and destroy the wing back but also has the ability to finish and to score a lot of goals with that amazing shot he has. I would like to underline his ability to play with both feet, something that is very rare in modern football and one little thing that make him special and surely a player to watch closely.
André Silva – FC Porto
We all have these special players to us, the player that for an unknown reason we will always be rooting for. For me it’s André Silva, one of my favourite players to watch. Not that he is big and I still don’t say he will be Portugal next striker, even if I think it’s a possibility, but I love what he does on the pitch. He plays a high intensity football, a tireless play style that gives him the edge over the other players but André is also the kind of person to run the extra mile, to make the sacrifices. Another thing I like about him is how emotional he is, after making a bad shot you can see him curse and kicking the grass, but then he won’t be affected by the miss and he will try again with no problem nor second thoughts. This is a quality that I love in football players and for strikers it is very important in my opinion. As for what he does on the pitch, André Silva is a very mobile player, who likes to receive the ball on the wings or next to the midfielder to be able to make some plays with the nº10 or with the wingers. He is the ultimate teammate who loves to help his colleagues to shine so they can make him shine too. On another hand, André Silva has to improve his first touch, his ball reception, this will be a key factor for his future, there are too many situations where he doesn’t score because of this.
The Portuguese Scout 