Another season in which FC Porto needs to sell their biggest star isn’t a surprise to anyone. Maybe the price, something around €60 million paid by Zenit for Brazilian forward Hulk, is somewhat of a surprise, and the destination, instead of the Premier League, could be surprising as well.

But for Porto to do great business? Nothing new about that. For over a decade now, the best club in Portugal and one of the most successful in Europe, winning 8 league titles, two Europa League/UEFA Cup trophies and one Champions League title, fish out great talent and then sell them to the richest clubs in Europe, beginning the cycle once again.

Not all the money goes to Porto. Just like in Brazil, which is somewhat of a problem in certain situations, Porto split the money with a third party owner, but they still make one hell of a profit over the players they sell, seeing as they pay close to nothing plenty of times to get some of the most talented players (as it later turns out) in Europe.

The first on the list is Ricardo Carvalho, now a unwanted persona with Real Madrid despite the long road he’s had with Jose Mourinho. Carvalho grew up from the Porto youth system, selling him to Chelsea for €30 million in 2004. Carvalho, capped 75 times for the national team, played six season for Chelsea before moving on to Real Madrid.

Paulo Ferreira is another one of the Mourinho boys, joining Chelsea after winning the Champions League alongside Mourinho. Ferreira spent a relatively short time with Porto, arriving from Vitoria Setubal in 2002, hardly costing anything, but he was sold to Chelsea for €20 million.

Deco, also part of the group that one the Champions League title didn’t go with Mourinho to Chelsea, arriving at the British club years later. Deco was signed for €0.1 million from Salguieros after Benfica gave up on him, leading to five excellent seasons for the dragons, and eventually being sold to Barcelona for €15 million.

Maniche is another player Benfica didn’t believe enough in, hardly costing anything when he arrived at Porto in 2002, going on to star for both club and country before being sold for €16 million to Dynamo Moscow, later on moving to Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Inter.

The king of brutes, Brazilian born Pepe, came to Porto after they’ve won the Champions League, signed from Maritimo for €1 million. After three seasons with the club, he was sold to Real Madrid in 2007 for €30 million.

Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira, or simply Anderson, was quite an expensive signing for Porto, purchasing him at the age of 17 for €7 million from Gremio in Brazil. Anderson played only 18 matches for the club before moving on to Manchester United, sold for €30 million.

Ricardo Quaresma, an immense talent with an even bigger ego grew up through the fantastic Sporting youth system, leading him to a disappointing spell with Barcelona. Porto signed him from Barca for €6 million, turning him into the best player in Portugal during his four seasons with the club before selling him to Inter for €18.6 million.

Jose Bosingwa was signed by Porto in 2003, spotted by Mourinho, taking him away from Boavista. He played with Porto for five seasons before being sold to Chelsea for €20.6 million.

Argentinian Lisandro Lopez arrived at Porto from Racing in Argentina back in 2005, signed for €2.5 million. He went on to score 50 goals in four seasons for the club before getting sold to Lyon for €24 million.

Lucho Gonzalez made the same road Lisandro Lopez did. Argentina (River Plate), purchased by Porto for €6.6 million and after four seasons with the team, sold to a French club, this time Marseille, for €18 million.

Porto had defender Aly Cissokho for only half a season, signing 60% of the rights to the player for only €300,000. In the summer of 2009 they sold him to AC Milan, who later cancelled the deal due to a failed medical, eventually landing the French player with Lyon for €15 million.

Bruno Alves was the first big name to make the Porto – Zenit connection, selling the centre back who was with the club since 1998 (age of 17) to the Russian club for €22 million in 2010.

Radamel Falcao was purchased from River Plate for just under €4 million, scoring 41 goals in 51 matches for Porto before moving on to Atletico Madrid for the fee of €40 million which may rise to €47 million based on his performances.

Colombian midfielder Freddy Guarin was purchased from Saint Etienne for €2 million in 2008, playing 63 matches for Porto before a deal that loaned him out to Inter for €1.5 million and later an additional €13.5 million to make the deal permanent.

Givanildo Vieira de Souza, Hulk, was one of the biggest names circulating in transfer rumors this summer, eventually ending the speculations after Zenit managed to sign the Brazilian for €55 million. Hulk cost Porto €19 million, for 80% of him that is, scoring 54 goals in his 99 matches for the club

A big factor in their favour though is they don't need work permits for talents.

I enjoyed this post pretty much. Great Job RFC_CFC!

A big factor in their favour though is they don't need work permits for talents.

Was going to say this. The only way we could do something similiar is for Roman to buy one of the Portuguese clubs outside of the Big 3 and Braga. But that wouldn't work due to a potential conflict of interests if the club qualified for Europe. I'm not sure if a club could refuse to not play in Europe and I doubt fans of that club would be happy if they did.

Was going to say this. The only way we could do something similiar is for Roman to buy one of the Portuguese clubs outside of the Big 3 and Braga. But that wouldn't work due to a potential conflict of interests if the club qualified for Europe. I'm not sure if a club could refuse to not play in Europe and I doubt fans of that club would be happy if they did.

There's serious money to be made in it, I suppose for Chelsea it would not be about making huge profit but actually getting these promosing players in without having to spend a fortune after a few years they spend in Portugal.

There's serious money to be made in it, I suppose for Chelsea it would not be about making huge profit but actually getting these promosing players in without having to spend a fortune after a few years they spend in Portugal.

Considering we have only sold 1 player over £15million in our history and they have sold at least 1 player over £15million in the previous 6 seasons I think it would make a decent bit of profit.

Benfica are another good example.

They have sold Witsel, Garcia, Luiz, Di Maria, Coentrao Ramires and Simao in recent seasons for well over £100M.

Not just Portugal either in this regard as Lille in France have been more than decent in recent transfers...

Hazard, Rami, Gervinho, Sow and Bastos have all gone for decent money in the past couple of seasons.

What about buying a Brazilian club then? Buy up a lot of talented young Brazilians and then sell them to Chelsea once they are ready to move on.

What about buying a Brazilian club then? Buy up a lot of talented young Brazilians and then sell them to Chelsea once they are ready to move on.

Wouldn't Chelsea buy them and loan them to the Brazilian club.

u forgot Raul mierles singed for Porto from boavista for not much but then sold for 13 millions euros to liverpool

Was talking about this with a mate recently, we were talking about how we would love their scouts at our clubs (he is a liverpool fan). However we also decided that one of the factors why they have developed so many succesful talents is that when they pick up these south american prospects the cutlure change is not only easier for the players but playing in a lower quality league than the prem with plenty of first team exposure as well as getting to experience the CL is the perfect place to develop these talents.

In my opinion had a player like kakuta signed for Porto instead of Chelsea we would be talking about him as one of the worlds most promising talents and he would have a hefty price tag on his head.

Reason why Porto get these players for cheap is because they include high sell on clauses in most of their deals but their reputation help as well though. The third party deals are more of a hindrance for both clubs than benefit in most cases so I won't bother mentioning that. When Porto sell their players the obscure teams they came from gain a huge amount of money, more than they would have got if they had held out for a full transfer fee with no clause. I think that's a very nice gesture considering that they don't have to do that, they could quite easily spend the few extra million and get the player with no or very minimal clauses. They give back to the clubs/country which provide them with so many talented players. I know Lisandro Lopez had a huge sell on clause. James Rodriguez has a 20-30% sell on clause in his contract and if he keeps up his performances he could easily be sold for the same amount as they got for Hulk, probably even more if Porto have any sense. 20% of Hulk's fee to a team like Banfield is a heck of a lot of money, especially after they just got relegated as well.

French teams like Lyon have tried to copy Porto, Benfica and Sporting but it all falls apart when it comes to the coaching. Not many teams can hold a candle to Porto, Benfica and Sporting coaches. They are among the best in the world. That's not to say they haven't been successful at all though, as someone already pointed out above Lille have made a tidy profit. For many young players signing for Porto, Benfica or Sporting is the equivalent of an 24/25 year old signing for Barcelona/Madrid, a dream come true. CL football, best coaches in the world who are truly interested in developing your talent and not to mention the experience gained from finals, playing top teams, etc.

I don't think anyone else can quite pull it off the same way they do, for them, and Portugal in general, failure simply wasn't an option.The quality of the league was so poor and it didn't help that Spain were right next door either. It was the only way to save the league and now that it turned out to be so successful it's become part of the league, if you know what I mean. There's a word for that but I'm not sure. In the future teams like Braga and Maritimo will be talked about in the same breath as "The Big 3". They are already well on their way.