Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been increasing considerably their investment in their own leagues, and its already impacting the European transfer market. Such external investment is creating friction among some European dirigents due to the non-regulation of such clubs financial balance.
One of the markets that have been a target for these leagues, especially this summer, was the Portuguese, where some teams relied on such income to have a positive financial balance.
The Qatari teams have been monitoring players from the Portuguese first league, and last month Al-Duhail signed the 21-year-old Italo-Ivorian Ibrahima Bamba from Vitória SC for around €8m plus €2m in add-ons. Ibra also was linked to Premier League clubs like Mikel Artetas Arsenal and Unai Emerys Aston Villa. However, they never agreed to the terms with Vitória SC.
Another name that was being linked to a Qatari side is André Amaro, who has just signed a new contract with Al Rayyan. The Portuguese centre-back was transferred by a value that could reportedly reach €9m, add-ons included.
As things stand, These two young and very promising centre-backs who left Vitórias roster, on the one hand, helped the club generate around €20m in revenues, but on the other, significantly decreased their defensive lines level. The Portuguese side will most likely solve this matter internally with some young players either from the academy or the second team, which is a risk.
In this tactical analysis in the form of a scout report, well try to understand what were the roles of these two young centre-backs last season as their qualities and weaknesses. Furthermore, we will also explore the options for Vitórias centre-backs this season, both internal and external.
Ibra Bamba: Essential in Vitorias build-up strategy
Bamba quickly started to draw attention due to his technical quality, which allowed him to stand out, especially in the offensive organisation phase. As we can see above, Bamba ranked in the 51.6th percentile on accurate passes (%) among the centre-backs of the same tier of the First Portuguese League, which is pretty good for his first season playing as a centre-back.
Having that said, lets initially focus on Ibras on-the-ball tactics.
With some previous experiences playing as a defensive midfielder, Ba
