Benfica Campus CEO Pedro Mil-Homens stressed this Sunday during a panel on “Football as a model for sustainability for clubs” at the Thinking Football conference in the city of Porto that “the key to success is the quality of Portuguese talent”.
On the panel, which also included Claudio Coutu (CEO of SC Braga), Maritimo coach João Henriques and coach of Interclub (Luanda, Angola), Luis Gonçalves, Pedro Mil-Omens, Benfica’s strongman in training, responsible to the maximum for the embodied organization and infrastructure of the eagles , based in Seixal (after having already been the same for the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy, Sporting, in Alcochet) emphasized that the innate and honed talent of young citizens is an invaluable asset and that Portuguese football cannot and should not neglect this: it is better to maximize use him.
“In my opinion, the fundamental component of success is the quality of the Portuguese talent. We need a healthier youth football. It takes more training and less strategy. We don’t need Guardiolas under 7,” he gave an example, using the Spanish coach Meng. City.
“Portugal has a lot of talent, it breathes football and the kids are following the huge examples of success that have emerged over the years. From a rational point of view, I would say that Portuguese clubs have no choice but to invest in training, at least for the time being. There is no potential for acquisition, but there is constant pressure to balance the operating results. Clubs must continue to invest in what is so good: talent and skilled technicians to develop these talents,” said Claudio Couto, CEO of Braga.
“Many times the result is superior to any type of project. Anything that takes longer to build will also last longer if done well. I ask for more stability for the work of coaches,” stressed, in turn, Joao Enriques, the head coach of Maritimo.
Strengthening ties between Portuguese clubs and Portuguese-speaking countries was the advice of the “immigrant” from Angola and coach Luis Gonçalves.
“There is a lot of talent in Africa, but neither the infrastructure nor the organization is the same. Portuguese clubs should bet on a historical connection that exists very strongly. It would be useful to make such an approximation: talent exists all over the world … but it needs to be discovered, ”concluded Luis Gonçalves.
