"Lopetegui duped me with Adrián, I'd never heard of him"

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Tempers have been boiling over at FC Porto over the past week. Last Wednesday a group of fans gathered outside the home of club president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa to demand he step down from his post after the side’s challenge in Europe and the Primeira Liga hit the buffers.

Pinto is no shrinking violet though and responded almost immediately through the press, calling for patience, announcing new signings and laying into Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui, who was sacked in January.

Pinto da Costa said he regretted leaving transfer business in the hands of former Spain under-21 manager Lopetegui, because the Spaniard asked for players that the president had never heard of. The example Pinto da Costa gave was that of former Atlético striker Adrián, who had won La Liga, the Europa League and a Copa del Rey with the rojiblancos. “I signed players I had never heard of, who only came backed by the coach. In the case of Adrián I felt I had been duped. The agent told me I could sell him on for the same fee. I had never heard of him and I trusted Lopetegui. I left transfers in his hands and he assured me he would build a great team. Some of them never played. If you come to Porto and don’t play it is a failure. It is my fault for trusting someone I shouldn’t have, but it won’t happen again.”