Transport markets looked at by Pedro Alves

With the arrival of Pedro Alves as sporting director and Carlos Carvalhal at the technical helm, it makes some sense for Olympiacos to have renewed interest in the Portuguese market. However, the first’s samples in his five-year stint at Estoril, but also in his three-year presence in Braga as head of the scouting department, show that he has a wide range of movements.

In the 40-year-old’s time at Estoril, for example, the Portuguese team has acquired players from 23 different nationalities, not including Portuguese footballers of course.

Pedro Alves has concluded deals for footballers from Europe (Spain, France, Azerbaijan, Serbia), from South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela), from Central America (El Salvador), from Asia (Japan) and Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Mozambique Guinea-Bissau, Tunisia, Angola, Senegal and Congo).

The majority were Brazilian

The majority of the footballers the new Olympiacos sporting director was involved with were Brazilian, which is somewhat to be expected, as Portugal is a gateway for Brazilian players to Europe.

As for the markets from which Estoril acquired players during Pedro Alves’ tenure, their total reached 12, namely from Brazil, Italy, Germany, Spain, England, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Romania and Greece.

As for the time when Alves was scouting Braga, the latter acquired players including Brazilians, Argentines, Uruguayans and Serbs, as well as Montenegrin Bakic from Fiorentina, who now plays for OFI.