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A prolific track record in the Portuguese top-flight can be deceiving, as West Ham United are finding out with former Gil Vicente talisman Pablo Felipe.
Pablo arrived with a record even Erling Haaland would be proud of during the January transfer window.
Ten in his final 12 Primeira Liga starts, all from an ‘expected goals’ tally of 5.6. Three and a half months later, Pablo is still waiting for his first Hammers goal.
A barren run of 13 games unbroken.
What ADVICE would you give to Pablo Felipe?
13 games without a goal now…
Former Gil Vicente teammate Murillo has wasted little time, meanwhile, in replacing Pablo Felipe as the free-scoring talisman of Estadio Cidade de Barcelos. Murilo has nine goals in 13 games since the departure of the now West Ham United-based frontman.
And when you consider that Murilo is a 31-year-old winger who joined Gil Vicente after failing to find the net even once in Japan with Kyoto Sanga FC, it is only natural that you would start questioning the quality of the Portuguese top-flight and Pablo’s elite-level credentials.
Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images
In a sense, Arsenal are going through something similar.
Viktor Gyokeres, technically-speaking, averages a goal every other start in the Premier League. But there is a reason why footballers should be judged not on stats and stats alone. Clunky, clumsy and maligned by much of the Gunners fanbase, Gyokeres trudged through a run of one non-penalty goal in 17 matches either side of Christmas.
None of his 12 Premier league goals have come against sides currently in the top-six. The term ‘flat track bully’ was made for him.
That he arrived on the back of a staggering 54-goal season at Sporting Lisbon, in hindsight, probably says more about the quality of Portuguese football than it does about Gyokeres himself.
It is telling that Luis Suarez – no, not that one – replaced the Swede at Sporting and already has 33 goals himself.
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Pablo has made an impact under Nuno Espirito Santo at least
Darwin Nunez scored more during his final Primeira Liga season at Benfica than he managed in three Premier League campaigns combined with Liverpool.
Conrad Harder, who joined RB Leipzig from Sporting for £20 million last summer, has found the net three times in 27 Bundesliga matches. Vitinha flopped at Marseille after banging them in at Braga. Ditto Jackson Martinez, the former Porto icon, at Atletico Madrid.
Evanilson averaged one in two at Porto, but now averages one in five for Bournemouth in the Premier League.
So good luck to whoever takes a £50 million-plus punt on Porto powerhouse Samu at some point later down the line. Chelsea, we are looking at you.
Pablo might still come good at West Ham. Nuno Espirito Santo remains confident in the January signing. And, for all his faults, Pablo has brought the kind of energy and mobility previously lacking in the final third.
Captain Jarrod Bowen praised Pablo’s impact, saying he and Taty Castellanos have provided a ‘platform’ for their teammates to thrive upon. The skipper is not the only one to say something along these lines.
But while many elite clubs these days appear to have reservations about signing strikers from the Dutch Eredivisie – a consequence of Afonso Alves, Vincent Janssen, Matija Kezman and more – perhaps it’s time to view the Portuguese Primeira Liga with similar levels of scrutiny.
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