Lucas Dias - Sporting CP

[JasonDias]

On 12/20/2022 at 4:11 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

@JasonDias give us a bit of an update if you can. Thanks.

Soon enough. He's also informed and in touch with the national team program and the boys, like many his age. 

Merry Christmas all!

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

Looks like Lucas is still doing his thing with the Sporting U23 side.

Scored a goal in their last match.

https://www.sporting.pt/pt/noticias/futebol/sub-23/2023-02-20/queremos-que-todos-estejam-preparados-para-um-nivel-competitivo

On 12/25/2022 at 11:52 PM, JasonDias said:

Soon enough. He's also informed and in touch with the national team program and the boys, like many his age. 

Merry Christmas all!

Now that the European transfer windows are closed, I assume if there is any news we will hear about it in June or July?

Edited February 20 by Olympique_de_Marseille

[VinceA]

Feel like if he was going to break through with the first team it would have happened already.

[MM3/MM2/MM]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Looks like Lucas is still doing his thing with the Sporting U23 side.

Scored a goal in their last match.

https://www.sporting.pt/pt/noticias/futebol/sub-23/2023-02-20/queremos-que-todos-estejam-preparados-para-um-nivel-competitivo

Now that European transfer windows are closed, I assume if there is any news we will hear about it in June or July?

Not too late for MLS, Montréal seems to like signing Canadians who are playing in Europe.

[frmr]

He's a month off being a teenager. Let's not jump to conclusions.

[SoccMan]

5 minutes ago, MM3/MM2/MM said:

Not too late for MLS, Montréal seems to like signing Canadians who are playing in Europe.

They could sign him but I think they would only sign him if first he wants to come and second if Montreal thinks he is a player who can play at this level and get significant minutes , at his age he needs minutes no sense in signing him and him sitting on the bench .

Edited February 20 by SoccMan

[Unnamed Trialist]

56 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Feel like if he was going to break through with the first team it would have happened already.

If you've seen him, he's physically a bit slight. Or was. Perhaps he needs to mature a bit physically, but a teenager playing u23 is a good sign.

[Norrin Radd]

15 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If you've seen him, he's physically a bit slight. Or was. Perhaps he needs to mature a bit physically, but a teenager playing u23 is a good sign.

These leagues are U23 in name only. In practice I believe they're effectively U20 leagues.

Most of the top players will graduate to the first team well before they're 23 and the other top prospects are probably getting loaned out to the lower leagues.

I was looking at the EPL2 leagues a few years ago when Millar had returned there after one of his loan spells in Scotland and the average player age across both divisions was 19.5 years. I think someone made a similar observation about the Portuguese U23 league earlier in this thread.

Dias just turned 20 so he's basically and average age player in the league. That's not a bad thing but he's not playing above his age group at the moment.

[JasonDias]

On 2/20/2023 at 2:17 PM, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

Looks like Lucas is still doing his thing with the Sporting U23 side.

Scored a goal in their last match.

https://www.sporting.pt/pt/noticias/futebol/sub-23/2023-02-20/queremos-que-todos-estejam-preparados-para-um-nivel-competitivo

Now that the European transfer windows are closed, I assume if there is any news we will hear about it in June or July?

He's actually got a couple of goals and assists in 2023, including an assist in yesterday's game. The Us in Portugal for the big three are very fluid, they move players between u19/u23/B weekly. Might be simply for fitness/trial of different roles on the pitch/chemistry testing, etc. He and a bunch of others have been moved up and down so often this season. 

So far in 2023 he's mainly featured for the 23s, even captaining a few games. Pleased to see his playing time is up quite a bit. 

You can read the Sporting U23 thread on their supporters forum and get a feel for how they see the team. 

https://www.forumscp.com/t/sporting-cp-equipa-sub-23-época-20222023/63517?page=59 

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, JasonDias said:

He's actually got a couple of goals and assists in 2023, including an assist in yesterday's game. The Us in Portugal for the big three are very fluid, they move players between u19/u23/B weekly. Might be simply for fitness/trial of different roles on the pitch/chemistry testing, etc. He and a bunch of others have been moved up and down so often this season. 

So far in 2023 he's mainly featured for the 23s, even captaining a few games. Pleased to see his playing time is up quite a bit. 

You can read the Sporting U23 thread on their supporters forum and get a feel for how they see the team. 

https://www.forumscp.com/t/sporting-cp-equipa-sub-23-época-20222023/63517?page=59 

Thanks @JasonDias much appreciated. On that forum someone posted an article from Feb 20 on the Sporting site, here:

https://www.sporting.pt/pt/noticias/futebol/sub-23/2023-02-20/queremos-que-todos-estejam-preparados-para-um-nivel-competitivo

There are statements from Lucas in that article: 

Já Lucas Dias, que marcou o golo dos Leões no último jogo, frente ao Gil Vicente FC, destacou a postura da equipa nessa partida. “Entrámos muito bem, tivemos uma boa reacção à perda de bola e fomos para o intervalo com 0-0. Na segunda parte voltámos a entrar bem, mas sofremos dois golos e baixámos um pouco. Destaco a atitude da equipa, pois acreditámos, lutámos até ao fim e nunca desistimos. Ainda fizemos o 1-2 e o 2-2, mas o último golo foi marcado em fora de jogo”.

O luso-canadiano, de 20 anos, perspectivou depois o duelo com o CD Mafra. “Vêm de duas derrotas e um empate, mas conhecemos a ideia de jogo deles. Trabalhámos muito bem durante a semana e sabemos o que fazer em campo, vamos jogar o nosso jogo e entrar para ganhar. Será certamente um bom jogo”.

My roughish translation:

'Lucas Dias, who scored the two goals for the Lions in the last match against Gil Vicente, emphasized the attitude of the team in that match. "We were doing well, we reacted well when we lost the ball and went into half time tied 0-0. In the second part we started strongly, but they scored two and we dropped our level a bit. I would point to the team's mentality, out belief, we fought to the end and never game up, finally scoring the 1-2 and 2-2, then a final goal that was marked offside."

The Portuguese-Canadian, aged 20, then looked ahead to the match against Marfa. "They are coming off two losses and a draw, but we know how they play. We have been working hard during the week and we know what to do on the pitch, we are going to play our game and come out with the idea of winning. It'll be a good match for sure."