Scouting Portugal: 4 Liga Stars Who Could Shine at PSG | OneFootball

It has been another sensational campaign for Paris Saint-Germain. Les Parisiens have confirmed their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title after 28 matches played. They will be facing off against Reims in the Coupe de France Final, whilst they are also five games away from winning their first-ever UEFA Champions League title.

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Luis Enrique’s side has achieved this dominance in large part due to four Portuguese players who arrived from Liga Portugal—João Neves, Vitinha, Gonçalo Ramos, and Nuno Mendes. As such, there’s reason to believe that PSG will return to the well and boost their squad this summer with more players from the Primeira Liga. Today, we’re taking a look at four players from Portugal’s top flight that PSG should be looking at for this summer.

Wagner Pina

Out of all of the players in PSG’s squad, arguably, nobody is more indispensable than Achraf Hakimi. This is due to two reasons: Hakimi is one of the best right-backs in the world, and PSG doesn’t have a single player who can replace him.

As such, it’s vital that PSG invest in a backup right back, and in Wagner Pina, they might have the perfect replacement. After testing his skills in Portugal’s lower leagues, Pina joined Estoril Praia in 2023 and has quickly asserted himself as one of the finest right-backs in the top flight. An athletic, aggressive right back, Pina excels at getting forward and whipping in crosses, with the 22-year-old leading Estoril’s squad with 3 assists alongside Jordan Holsgrove and filling Rodrigo Gomes’s creative void following his move to Wolves. His silky dribbling skills evoke similarities to Miguel Ángel Benítez, capable of squeezing out of tight situations and coming out with the ball glued to his feet.

He’s completing 1.1 successful dribbles per 90, behind Rafik Guitane and João Carvalho in Estoril’s squad, with a success rate of 1.1%. But don’t get it twisted – Pina is also solid on the other side of the ball. Not one to dive into challenges, Pina excels at waiting for his opponent to make the move before intervening and stopping the attack. He leads Estoril’s squad with 2.4 tackles per game, and his expert anticipation and positional awareness have helped the Canarinhos solidify yet another comfortable mid-table finish. The Cape Verde international is constantly looking to play the ball forward after winning the ball back, and this all-action nature could prove handy for Enrique’s style of play. Two years after Tiago Santos’ €6.5 million move to Lille, we could see yet another Estoril right back make the move to Ligue 1.

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