Sporting Lisbon keen to keep junior striker
PORTUGUESE giants Sporting Lisbon are hoping to keep South African junior international striker Liam Jordan for next season.
Jordan, 18, spent the last campaign on loan at the club from league champions Bidvest Wits‚ but played just 60 minutes for the club’s U19 team.
He was the youngest member of the team’s reserve squad‚ which campaigns in the Portuguese second tier.
Coach Luis Martins said he would feature more in 2017-18 if he stayed at the club.
Jordan’s agent‚ Glyn Binkin‚ and Wits chief executive Jose Ferreira visited Sporting earlier this month and the club were keen to keep the player.
“They want him to stay and we are in discussions with them‚ but nothing has been finalised,” Binkin said.
Although game-time had been limited‚ Jordan said, he felt he had grown as a player during his year in Portugal.
“In total, I have played 60 minutes for the U19s in eight months‚ so it is a very slow start‚” he said.
“But in saying that‚ I’m learning things about football and about myself that I wouldn’t get if I was playing every week.
“I am learning a new side of football and I am taking it as a positive.
“I am 100% a better player now than I was when I joined.
“They push you in training; you learn so much there.
“I have grown tactically and physically.
“When I compare how I was before I went to Portugal [with] now‚ to me there is no comparison. “I have settled in. “I am very comfortable with the people and the club.
“Obviously, I am not comfortable with the fact that I’m not playing‚ as that is the most important thing as a player‚ but in terms of culture and environment‚ I am delighted.
“The culture is very easy to get used to. I have picked up the language as well.
“The players are great – they love me and I love them; we are all brothers now.
“So it would be a shame if I had to change country.”
Jordan campaigned with Amajita at the recent Fifa U20 World Cup in South Korea‚ coming off the bench against Japan and starting against Italy.
Although he did not get on the scoresheet‚ the teenager looked the part and remains a top prospect for the senior national team in years to come.