Football Season Guide

SC Braga

In


Tiago Esgaio (def/mid) Belenenses SAD, Lucas Mineiro (mid) Gil Vicente, Paulo Oliveira (def) Eibar, Mario González (att) Tondela; Fábio Martins (mid/att) Al-Shabab, SAU - return from loan; Ricardo Ryller (mid) Bragantino, BRA - return from loan

Out


Rogério Santos (sp)(gk) Trofense, Caju (sp)(def) Aris Limassol, CYP, Ricardo Esgaio (def)(k) Sporting, Nico Gaitán (sp)(mid) end of contract; Sporar (sp)(att) Sporting - return from loan, Zé Carlos (sp)(def) Gil Vicente - on loan, Guilherme Schettine (sp)(att) FC Vizela - on loan, Cristián Borja (r)(def) Alanyaspor, TUR

Braga had a decent season in 2020-21 but it wasn't enough for Braga to get into a top-3 position. Carvalhal brought a good attacking mentality to the team and for some moments Braga seemed like a true Big team. However, they lacked consistency at times, and dropped more points than they should. Bracarenses seem to have had a very good approach on the market and they look stronger than last season. For the moment, only Ricardo Esgaio is a significant departure. Youngster Fabiano and Esgaio's brother, Tiago, will be fighting for his succession on the right wing. Paulo Oliveira in defense, Lucas Mineiro in midfield and Mario Gonzalez in attack were sensible transfers brought to improve the group of options for Carlos Carvalhal. All three will push for starting positions. Al Musrati and Fransérgio have been linked with moves to bigger teams. It would be crucial for Braga to keep at least one of those two in order to try to be more competitive than last year. Otherwise, Braga will look like a few steps down from the big-3, once again. Carvalhal should keep the back-3 system with Sequeira playing in a hybrid position between left centre-back and left full-back, providing Galeno more freedom to attack down the left wing. Despite the important addition of Paulo Oliveira, the back-3 seems to be the soft spot of squad, with perhaps less options than they should have. David Carmo's recovery from a very long injury is quite urgent.

Target


As in previous years, Braga is expected to try to mess around the natural order of the big-3. However, coach Carvalhal already mentioned that holding the 4th place is the main goal for the season.