Porto’s promising Rodrigo Mora has extended his contract by three seasons until 2027, a week after being promoted to pre-season work with the first team, the Portuguese first division club announced today.
“I am very happy. I want to thank you for the trust you have placed in me and I promise to do everything possible to fulfill this contract. My first dream is to debut in the main team and then become the champion of the country,” the athlete said, speaking to the media from FC Porto.
Having registered four goals and two assists in 29 games for the B team in the II League, the 17-year-old midfielder extended his links with the Dragons, with whom he signed his first professional contract in June 2023, but of no known duration.
“It’s important for him. The smile he showed shows the importance of this moment. It’s important for the club to pay attention to the children and the idea of the game, because Rodrigo Mora embodies a style of always wanting to have the ball.” He plays professional football to grow, develop and spend many good days with the fans at the Estadio do Dragão, said the new sporting director of the “blue and whites”, the Spaniard Andoni Zubizarreta.
Rodrigo Mora joined Porto’s youth ranks in the 2016/17 season, moving from Kustoias, and accelerated the stages of evolution, even becoming the youngest player ever to debut and score in the national professional championships for Team B.
“The president [André Villas-Boas] said during the election campaign [eleitoral] who wanted to bet on young talent and be competitive. There is no need to explain to Rodrigo what it means to represent Porto. The public asks him to play well, work hard and be dedicated when he wears the shirt. [A renovação] “It’s important for talented coaches to see that the project is defined and we want to open the doors for them,” Zubizarreta said.
The midfielder is the youngest of the 28 players currently under coach Vitor Bruno’s guidance in Porto’s pre-season training. He was promoted to the senior team a month after finishing as the top scorer at the UEFA European Under-17 Championship with five goals in a competition that Portugal lost 3-0 to Italy in the final in Limassol, Cyprus.
“Rodrigo is a player in whom we have great faith. He is a young man from home, outstanding and with authority. We are very happy to have reached an easy agreement and this is, to some extent, the path we are going to take. We want to create the necessary conditions to make this investment in training a reality and to take advantage of the many talents we have,” commented FC Porto’s Director of Professional Football, Jorge Costa.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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