Coventry City were given plenty of encouragement over a summer move for Porto’s Francisco Moura, but the transfer ultimately never happened.
A month or so later, that appears to have worked out quite nicely for manager Francesco Farioli.
Moura was repeatedly linked with Coventry during the summer window, when his future at Porto looked uncertain. The Portuguese club were willing to consider a sale and reports put their demands at around €10m (£8.6m).
Olympiacos and Hamburg were also in the picture, and Moura had opportunities to leave. None of them ultimately resulted in a transfer.
That left the 27-year-old at Porto. And his situation has changed considerably since then.
A ‘new life’ at Porto
Portugal’s Record says Moura has been given a “new life” at the club and could now be heading towards a season of “redemption”.
The newspaper explains that the left-back has been used in each of Porto’s last four matches. That’s his longest run of consecutive appearances since January.
Two of those appearances came from the start. He was left on the bench against Manchester City and Benfica. However, Record suggests Farioli may have been protecting him somewhat in the bigger matches.
Moura had endured a difficult end to last season and was involved in incidents which cost Porto victories in two big games.
There were no such problems against Benfica this time. Record says Moura looked switched on after coming from the bench and did his job of stopping Dodi Lukebakio.
Farioli happy summer move didn’t happen
The turnaround had already started becoming clear earlier this month. After Porto’s 2-1 win over Moreirense on September 4th, Farioli spoke openly about Moura’s difficult summer. He made it very clear how he felt about the failed transfer.
“He was linked with transfer rumours many times, so it was a difficult summer for him, without much clarity about his future,” Farioli said, via Mais Futebol.
“I’m very happy he stayed. I spoke to him two days ago. He’s a player we have to recover because I believe in him a lot.”
“The second half of last season was difficult for him, but I’m happy the supporters backed him during the game and when he came off.”
“He’s loved by all his teammates, has unique characteristics and needs to find the necessary confidence, as he did in the first half of last season.”
Those words look even more relevant a few weeks later. Now he’s getting regular minutes again and appears to be rebuilding the confidence Farioli was talking about.
It’s quite a turnaround from August. Specially given he could have provided some interesting competition for Jay DaSilva on the left flank.
That move is history for now, though. The player they were chasing during the summer stayed in Portugal, and Farioli certainly seems pleased that he did.
