Quaresma Re-Ups with Porto

Ricardo Quaresma, one of the brightest young(ish) talents in Portugal, yesterday extended his stay at Porto, adding two years to a contract that was due to expire in the summer of 2009. Quaresma is a magician on the ball who has matured a lot over the past few years, and Porto will be thrilled to keep him for a bit longer, but one has to wonder if this is the best thing for the player — I hate to even put the two men in the same sentence, but is Quaresma in danger of turning into Portugal’s Landon Donovan?

Let me explain: Donovan went abroad at a very young age, spending his formative football years at Bayer Leverkusen. He obviously learned an enormous amount, growing up at a club like that, but when he had the chance, Donovan moved to MLS, something for which he certainly can’t be blamed. But his subsequent decisions to reject all offers to move abroad in favor of staying at home, where both his football and his life are comfortable, have come in for criticism, particularly in the wake of Donovan’s embarrassing performance in World Cup 2006 — it’s hard not to wonder if his play at the international level wouldn’t be better if he was willing to move to a better league than MLS. Granted, he might have to fight for a spot, and wouldn’t be a star (Horrors!), but one could certainly argue that he’d become a better footballer by playing stronger opponents, and would thus be better equipped to lead the US into major tournaments.

Similarly, Quaresma went abroad early in his career — he spent a year with Barcelona when he was 20 — only to come home at the earlier opportunity. His experience in Spain was an awful one, because of injury problems, his inability to get along with Frank Rijkaard and, probably, the fact that his ego couldn’t handle not being a regular in the the Barca side, particularly after they’d spent €6 million to buy him. So Quaresma moved to Porto, where he’s become a star: In addition to rising to the top of the BWIN Liga talent pool, he’s performed brilliantly in the Champions League (Liverpool, in particular, will be happy never to see him again) and has become a regular in the Portuguese national team. Porto have repeatedly rejected approaches for their star winger, but Quaresma himself has also been unwilling to even talk about leaving Porto, beyond the usual “oh, it’s flattering” talk about reported interested from clubs in England, Italy and Spain. But wouldn’t he get even better if he moved abroad and played a higher level? Wouldn’t that make him a greater weapon for his country, if nothing else?

[Of course, if this extension has been signed only to make sure that Porto get full price for Quaresma when they sell him this summer, I take everything I said back, and will applaud him for his wise decision to leave home.]

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Category: BWIN Liga, World Football