Very highly rated by all accounts and a massive upgrade on anything we have now. I'd be surprised if we can pull this off but perhaps if it's a loan and it works for all parties he might want to stay if we get promoted.
If there's no option to buy, I can only presume he's pretty decent. Hopefully this will give Davis the much needed kick up the arse he's been needing, as he's too comfortable as first choice striker
Yes. He doesn't have much competition does he? I mean Bayo always looks like he is allergic to the ball and Manaj is crocked. I'd prefer to give the youth a chance over those two tbh.
I dont really care where a player comes from provided those making decisions think he (a) is good ; (b) improves a weak area of the squad that needs strengthening; and (c) represents good value for money. Bayat signings were often (a) not good enough for us (b) signings in positions we didnt need; and (c) signed for more than they should have been. Joao Ferreira is (a) maybe good ? (b) signed in our weakest area (c) signed at half the value of his buyout clause. Henrique Araujo is (a) apparently good (b) signed in an area we are lacking and (c) signed on a loan on cheap wages. Compare with Bayo and Kayembe etc and you will see the difference.
If Bayo had been £1/2m he would be a decent signing for an impact player. Its the £5m pricetag that makes it disgraceful.
His goal was only against Maccabi Haifa when they were already 4-1 up. I'm not entirely sure why Benfica fans would be frustrated - it's not as if they're actually selling him to us, plus they're currently top of the table, and Ramos is tearing up the league. They could well just loan him to us for a few months to help improve his game, and he'll then return once they sell Ramos in the summer and be the next player they demand £60mil for a year down the line to a bigger club than us. Who knows?!
I suspect that they knew they were coming a while ago and also will have details of a multitude of players at all times so it's just fitting that round our needs
I think they are irritated they spent money on a 3rd choice backup striker rather than playing him. Some also would prefer to have seen him loaned to a less physical league.
This ‘never played in the UK before’ is a bit of an overused red herring though isn’t it. The football world is awash with successful players who hadn’t played in their current country before doing well.
Let's hope he has the impact that Vydra did when he turned up as a 20 year old in the Championship...
Hmm, helping out Bayat's brother at Charleroi or getting some players from Benfica. I just don't know which one I prefer.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2023/01/18/watford-closing-benfica-striker-henrique-araujo/ Framed as an exclusive rather than just regurgitating the Record report so seems to corroborate the reports in Portugal.
People act as if Oscar Estupinan, who played at a much lower level and has much less potential than Araujo, isn't the second top scorer in the division.
Fun little trick with the telegraph... If you click the X before the page is fully loaded it gets your round the paywall.
Which people are they? Estupinan arrived in the Championship off the back of a full season in Liga NOS where he was 5th top scorer while playing for the team which finished 6th in the table. While Araujo has played only 73 minutes for Benfica this season. Maybe Araujo does have more potential, but that's not much use to us if he's not currently good enough and Benfica won't sell him to us. There's still a chance that he could be good enough for us now, but if he's similar to Ferreira then he'll need time to get up to speed - by which point the season and his loan might be finished.
I was responding to the point that talented foreign players from countries like Portugal necessarily need adjusting time. There are plenty of examples of talented young players from abroad instantly doing well in the Championship. The point about Araujo being an instant success is a different one. Every player adapts differently, but personally, I feel he has the movement, technique and quickness of thought to be a huge asset in this league. He's many times more talented than Ferreira.
It's true that Portuguese players have generally had a pretty good hit success rate coming to the PL and Championship in recent seasons. But Araujo has not played much decent level football recently, and seeing how shaky Ferreira was doesn't inspire me with confidence if he's just a few month's loan.
If that’s even remotely true that we’re paying that, then there’s no chance we’re loaning him to be on the bench.
Portuguese fella I work with is a huge Benfica fan and reckons this guy would be an unbelievable signing in the Championship if we get him in.
Same from mine. As Benfica is such a talent machine / revolving door they expect him to replace Ramos next season or the one after. They've also just signed Schelderup from Nordsjaelland which I'm a bit envious about.
Tbf a majority of the Portuguese 2nd division (where he's played most of his minutes this season) is actually surprisingly close in terms of quality to most of the teams in the Portuguese top flight (excluding the obvious teams like Benfica, Porto, Braga, Sporting as well as Vitoria Guimaraes) and the disparity in quality isn't as big between leagues elsewhere. I was very surprised when I found that out and the cups are always crazy because of it, Casa Pia are into the quarter finals of the main cup for the first time in their history and out of the 8 teams remaining, 3 are from the Segunda (with 2 of those near the bottom of the table!), even in the round of 16 there was a team from the third division and a team from the 4th division. We finished 2nd in the Segunda last season, didn't spend a penny on transfer fees and are currently 5th in Liga NOS with most of the same team that got us up (i'd say with everyone fit and available 3 or 4 of the starting 11 last season wouldn't start this season) It'll be interesting to see the long-term history of the relegation playoff (between the team who finishes 16th in the top flight vs the team who finishes 3rd in the segunda) as time goes by, in most countries they typically favour the top flight team but in the 2 years they've had in Portugal the second division team has won both times.
Fair, although I would say the need is bigger up front, so I'd be willing to burn a loan deal on this fella (especially compared with Tuanzebe who I don't think will be a gamechanger, Pellistri who's a winger where I don't think we have the biggest need, Hughes might just be a gamechanger, but I do think the need up front is even bigger than in midfield)
I don’t know about others… but I do prefer knowledgeable insights to petty in fights. Thank you Reids.
Any chance of one of your comparison stats with Araujo/Bayo/Davis ? Lets forget about Manaj but could put Pedro in there as he can also play striker.
Not gonna have Statsbomb access until the end of the month apparently. I've kicked off about it but that's the earliest it can get done
