Carlos Carvalhal is surprised that Braga winger Ricardo Horta is not playing Premier League football after Newcastle United made a £10 million bid earlier in the year, as he told the Sun’s Goals Pull-out (25 November, page 8).
It is not all about Cristiano Ronaldo these days.
The phrase ‘Golden Generation’ may be trotted out far too often in international football but, in Carvalhal’s view, the reigning European Champions have a crop of youngsters as exciting and talented as any in Europe emerging onto the scene.
Joao Felix, Francisco Trincao, Pedro Neto, Ruben Dias and Ruben Neves are all 23 and under while Diogo Jota, since becoming Liverpool’s most expensive attacking signing of all time, is rapidly becoming one of the game’s most lethal forwards at Anfield.
Horta, meanwhile, has not made an international appearance since 2014. But that could change if he replicate’s last season’s career-best tally of 24 goals and eight assists in Braga colours.
“I don’t know why he’s not playing in England,” former Swansea and Sheffield Wednesday boss Carvalhal said of Horta. “He’s very similar to Jota.
“We again have a golden generation (at international level). We had one before with Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulita. Now we have a new one.
“Trincao, the boy from my club Braga who moved to Barcelona this summer. And we all know Diogo Jota.”
According to Publico, Newcastle made a £10 million bid for Horta, a versatile attacker whose adaptability in the final third and clinical finishing skills justify those comparisons with Liverpool’s red hot £40 million front man.
The report adds that Braga demanded £25 million; a fee Newcastle were unwilling to pay.
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