Ruben Amorim’s Sporting CP may not have defended their Portuguese Primeira Liga crown last term, but optimism is high this time around for the Lisbon side.
In addition to boasting one of the top young coaches in the world, Sporting still have a strong core of young players, many of which graduated from their famed academy. One of these players is their excellent young centre-back, Goncalo Inacio.
No role in modern football is as difficult to perform as a centre-back. For most teams, central defenders are the starting point of their attack and are required to be accomplished and effective on the ball both through dribbling and passing.
As more and more teams across the continent adopt high-pressing systems, today’s centre-backs are required to be capable of resisting pressure from an opposition press when building from the back, mobile enough to cover in behind if the press is broken, and aerially dominant to stop the opposition from performing long raking balls over the top.
Given the variety and difficulty of these tasks, talented centre-backs who perform these actions in abundance are seemingly always in high demand. And for obvious reasons, Sporting’s Goncalo Inacio is one of them.
How good is Goncalo Inacio?
The Sporting man started his career at local club Almada, before moving to Sporting Academy. He had his first professional start on 6 June 2020. He primarily plays as a left-sided centre-back, but he doesn’t have any problem playing in either right-back or right centre-back position.
Goncalo Inacio is the instantiation of a ball-playing centre-back. Primarily a ball carrier, he is good with both feet – with the left being his dominant, exceptional at reading space around opponents when ball-carrying, and has the perfect physique to be mobile and incredibly agile central defender.
When in possession of the ball, he constantly scans his surroundings to find the best available pass. Not only is he safe when distributing, but when given the opportunity and freedom to, he is capable of dissecting opposition lines and picking his more forward-thinking teammates in more dangerous areas of the pitch.
He is also a telling long passer, if you need any evidence check out his incredible assist for Pedro Gonçalves last season, picking up the ball deep in his own half before playing a superb long-raking pass for the forward to comfortably slot home past the keeper. Additionally, one other element Inácio is incredibly competent at is his…
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