This Sunday, central defender and captain Pepe’s contract with Porto expires, which has left him out of the squad for the 2024/25 season and his future in football is uncertain, while he is a member of the Portugal squad for Euro 2024.
The Blaugrana dressing room chief, the 41-year-old returned to the Dragons in January 2019 to collect more trophies and break longevity records, but that is not the plan of the newly elected management led by Andre Villas-Boas.
On 17 June, in an interview with Now TV channel, Porto’s president admitted that he had communicated the decision privately to Pepe, who “will always have an open door” and his future is “closely linked to the club, whether it’s just from an emotional point of view or professional.”
“His continuation as a Porto player will not happen. We have the utmost respect for his career, but the new Porto has another path and we are concerned that the new Porto will cut wages and expenses. This was clearly explained to Pepe. He understood it this way and he will make a decision that is clear to him regarding his career,” he said.
Pepe has avoided touching on the subject in national team press conferences, for whom he recently started in wins over the Czech Republic (2-1) and Turkey (3-0) and was an unused substitute in the 0-2 defeat to Georgia in Euro 2024 Group F and is due to start again against Slovenia on Monday in the last 16.
The centre-back reached the final after recovering from one of the many injuries he has suffered in recent years and limited his use at Porto, where he scored three goals and provided two assists in 34 appearances in the 2023/24 season as they won the Portuguese Cup.
Last season was marked by the most popular elections in the history of the club: Villas-Boas put an end to 42 years and 15 years of “reign” of Pinto da Costa, who four days before going to the elections assured that he had reached an agreement with Pepe to extend the captain’s contract in case of success in the elections, the contract is valid until 2025.
Unlike then Porto coach Sergio Conceição, who extended his contract less than 48 hours before the elections, the Portugal international asked the previous management not to register the new contract with the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) until April 27. This will prove ineffective due to the stunning triumph of the new leader of the “blue and whites”.
Pepe says goodbye to 290 games and 17 goals for Porto, which he already represented from 2004 to 2007, winning four First League championships, five Portuguese Cups, three Candido de Oliveira Super Cups and one League Cup – he was part of the team which won the Intercontinental Cup in 2004, but was not used in the decision against Once Caldas.
Between his two spells at Dragao, the defender won 13 trophies for Real Madrid (2007-2017), including three Champions Leagues and numerous other Spanish championships, before an unsuccessful spell at Turkish side Besiktas (2017-2019).
Born in Maceió, Brazil, Pepe has represented Portugal since 2007 and is the third-most capped player for the country (139), scoring eight goals, in a career marked by his achievements at Euro 2016 and the 2019 Nations League.
FC Porto begins pre-season work on Monday at the PortoGaia sports training center in Olival with medical and physical tests and the first training sessions under the guidance of Vitor Bruno, Sergio Conceição’s assistant for the past 12 years.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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