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Nabil Ghilas
It will be interesting to watch how the season turns out for him. He is already shining in pre-season for his new club, scoring a goal last week in a friendly match in Holland. Having gone to Porto largely because of the possibility of playing in Europe, Ghilas certainly carries the ability to make an impression and he now has the platform to do it at his new club.
Fonseca, the new Porto coach, was happy to bring Ghilas in due to his “great appreciation” as well as the “opportunity for investment” for the player.
His playing career has been short, but is full of potential. Likely the successor to Jackson, Ghilas will be a great understudy and continue to grow into his own player. With his move to Porto, his bright future looks secure for another four years at least, and is provided with a great platform to grow on as he will get opportunities to play in both the league and in European competition. An exciting player to watch grow and develop until the next stage of his career.
Quotes
“This is an interesting player that we followed for a while . He’s a complete player. He must continue to work to improve. And he has a big room for improvement, this is a player of the future.”
—Vahid Halilhodzic, Algeria national team head coach, quoted by liberte-algerie.com (in French)
“It [Ghilas] is the most spoken name. He is a scorer and has a very large margin progression. Has strength, shot placement but other components have to work. If the defects are corrected, then the ability is there but it has to be developed. Still has much to learn.”
—Augusto Inacio, ex-Moreirense manager, quoted by zerozero.pt (in Portuguese)
Transfer Situation
Having signed for Porto for the 2013/14 campaign, Ghilas will be hoping to quickly establish himself with the Portuguese giants. Given his short career so far, playing for a club of the stature of Porto is a big step-up. One has to hope that it isn’t too big a move for him to handle.
There were lots of rumours that Ghilas would follow his ex-boss, Augusto Inacio, to Sporting Club de Portugal where he now holds the Director of Football post. Interestingly, Nabil Ghilas is owned by the same Sports Management agency that have the rights to Sporting players- Andre Carrillo, Salim Cisse & Wilson Eduardo. The agency have been instrumental in helping fairly unknown players (especially South Americans) to find a new home in Europe’s top leagues with the Serie A being a prime destination.
Porto have built a reputation of fielding top-quality sides with some of the most talented footballers, who eventually are prized away by Europe’s wealthier clubs. A reputation they aren’t really proud of. But given the situation, Nabil Ghilas may as well be one such hidden talent to take Europe by storm next season.
