Ball – renewal or not? Decision Marcano (Porto)

After a period of reflection of a few weeks, Marcano decided to accept the invitation made by FC Porto – always with the endorsement of Sérgio Conceição – to extend his contract for another season, even if he underwent a revaluation under his salary compared to last season, when he was earning a total of two million euros a year. .

The contract with the 36-year-old Spanish defender expired next Friday, but Marcano has already informed those in charge of the blue and white SAD of his intention and will continue with a dragon on his chest for another season, having helped the team train. By Sérgio Conceição to win the Portuguese Cup, the League Cup and the Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, he just missed out on the tournament to reach the full in 2022/2023.

The formalization of the agreement should be announced soon on FC Porto’s media channels, with Marcano accepting the salary terms proposed by SAD led by Pinto da Costa, which entail, as mentioned above, updating their salaries below, or that is, you will earn less than 1 million euros net next season.

A prominent figure in the Dragons’ dressing room – he is the sub-leader, right after Pepe in the hierarchy – Marcano knows he can still play at the highest level and help FC Porto in pursuit of its internal goals – which include winning everything – as well as going as far as possible. In the next edition of the Champions League, with exceeding the group stage is the minimum goal to achieve.

Concept evaluation

Right after Pepe (40), Marcano is the oldest in the blue and white team and wants to make the popular adage – “the older the better” – continue to make sense of his career. The Spaniard managed to overcome two serious injuries that afflicted him two seasons ago and returned to performing at a high level on the Portuguese lawns, but not only. Its continuity was, of course, stamped by Sergio Conceicao, who fully trusted the qualities of an outstanding and highly professional player.

Marcano, in fact, is already in Porto to arrive in good shape for the pre-season, having used the services of a company specializing in individual training for the second year in a row, where he curiously found his teammate David Carmo.

The centre-back finished last season with 41 competitive matches in the legs and only started in one of them. In all, he accounts for 247 appearances for the blue and whites in all national and UEFA competitions, bested in this record only by Ottavio (281) and Pepe (256).

More scoring defense

In the year 2022/2023, he was able to enter the exhibition of the notables of the Porto club, by winning the position of the most scored defender in the history of the club from the city of Invicta. The Spaniard scored 28 goals in his personal tally, after he surpassed Alex Telles (26), Jorge Costa (25), Ze Carlos (25) and Giraldao (23).

The bar is very high from a player who is seen as a reference in the locker room, who has a very strong personality and tries to pass on everything he has learned to the youngest on the team. Despite being quite aloof, his teammates admire Marcano for the way he performs on the field and behaves.