Why Portugal's Manchester United Target Andre Gomes Is Set for a Big Euro 2016

There’s a bit in that new Nike advert featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, a gifted young footballer and the plot of Freaky Friday in which Andre Gomes scores a goal for Portugal. It is not art imitating life.

Going into the Euro 2016 finals, Gomes has appeared eight times for his country and failed to find the net, but there is every reason to believe that will change over the coming days as Portugal face matches against Iceland, Austria and Hungary in what is seen as the kindest of groups.

"

One moment can change everything: https://t.co/6ru3o8yTCP#SparkBrilliancehttps://t.co/26gAx8l4Ef

— Nike Football (@nikefootball) June 9, 2016"

Whilst all of the attention has obviously fallen on Ronaldo going into a tournament which he will perhaps see as his last and best chance at international glory, the cast list which surrounds him seems to be of a higher calibre than those that went before—and that includes Gomes.

A tall, elegant midfielder who recovered from injury to star for Valencia in 2015/16, it is no surprise that the playmaker is being touted as the latest and brightest star in the Jorge Mendes galaxy.

It sounds cynical, but he’s probably in that Ronaldo advert for that very reason.

Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

And if you’re Portuguese, good at football and looked after by Mendes, then it won’t be long before you’re being linked to Jose Mourinho. The 22-year-old’s name has been mentioned alongside the Special One’s new club in recent weeks, per TalkSport and Mundo Deportivo (h/t the Daily Mirror).

But what would either club be getting for their money? Well, a talent. And talents don’t come cheap.

A classy operator who seems to gel with the other, perhaps more forward-thinking players in the Portugal side, Gomes seems ready for a breakout couple of weeks in France.

Like with many of his teammates, the broad instruction for Gomes will simply be to pass it to Ronaldo, but the key thing about this Portugal squad in comparison to recent vintages is that the players around their superstar captain are a better blend than what has gone before.

In Gomes and others’ case, that centres around their confidence on the ball.

JOSE JORDAN/Getty Images

Gomes has that in spades, and although not at his best during Valencia’s brief and disastrous spell under Gary Neville—Let’s be honest, who was?—he has regained his confidence through a couple of imposing displays in Portugal’s pre-tournament friendlies.

He’s likely to start in an advanced midfield role against Iceland, a match in which Portugal will expect to have a lot of the ball and so will need his defence-splitting capabilities.

As a hard-working, diligent player who doesn’t shirk his defensive responsibilities, it is possible to imagine him as the answer to Mourinho’s prayers at Old Trafford, where Manchester United’s new manager has arrived with a bulging inbox of midfield conundrums.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Michael Carrick is ageing, Bastian Schweinsteiger is declining, Morgan Schneiderlin has never quite convinced consistently, Marouane Fellaini is still all hair and elbows, and Juan Mata, well, we all know what he thinks of him following the pair’s time together at Chelsea.

Gomes could provide Mourinho with a star to hang his hat on in his early days at the club, and given that he’s represented by Mendes and that Valencia’s owner Peter Lim has United connections, then you’d have to believe that a transfer to England is very possible.

As FourFourTwo’s Lee Roden wrote in a profile of Gomes last October:

"

A player of his class certainly merits more European football and more sustained challenges. The question is whether Valencia can provide them.

If they can’t, then it feels inevitable that Gomes will move on sooner rather than later—not least because he is a Jorge Mendes player. Aware of the possibility of that scenario, Valencia doubled his buyout clause from the originally agreed €50m when they made the transfer from Benfica permanent last summer, as well as handing him a salary increase. 

"

€50 million? That would pay for a lot of air time alongside Ronaldo, and it would also be on the steep side for a player who hasn’t quite proved it at the very top level as yet.

That could change in the next couple of weeks, though, when we could be seeing Gomes come to the fore in a Portugal team which is about more than just one man.

Who knows? It could be him starring in the Nike advert in four years’ time…