A-League club Brisbane Roar is looking to tap into the footballing expertise that helped produce 10 of the current Euro 2016 championship-winning Portuguese squad.
Brisbane’s Courier Mail is reporting that the Roar is keen to establish a partnership with Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon, focusing on player development, player academies and player exchanges.
Roar’s managing director Daniel Cobb is about to head to Europe to try and formalise an arrangement with Sporting Lisbon, an 18-time winner of the Portuguese League title.
Sporting’s academy is famous for being a production line of players who have gone on to represent the Selecao, as the national team is known – players of the calibre of Ronaldo, Luis Figo, as well as players who played a prominent part in Portugal’s recent Euro 2016 triumph against France, including Nani, Quaresma, William Carvalho and Joao Mario.
Meanwhile, in other A-League news, former Melbourne Victory midfielder Jesse Makarounas earlier this week signed a one-year deal with reigning A-League champion Adelaide United.
Makarounas spent three seasons at Victory where he played 36 games, often coming off the bench, and he’s hoping the move to the Reds will give him the opportunity for more game time. Makarounas has represented Australia at U17 and U20 level.
His arrival at Adelaide comes at a time when one of its star midfielders from last season, Stefan Mauk, is reportedly about to depart overseas to join Dutch First Division club NEC. It’s believed Mauk has a $400,000 buy-out clause in his contract which the Dutch club is willing to pay. Mauk, whose good form last year earned him a call-up from Ange Postecoglou to join the Socceroos’ squad for the England friendly, will be following in the footsteps of another former Adelaide player and current Socceroo Craig Goodwin, who departed at the end of last season’s campaign to join Dutch Club Sparta Rotterdam.