Transfer news spreads like wildfire in this day and age. Leaks have become not only common but expected, by clubs, journalists and agents. So when Porto unveiled Luuk de Jong, it stunned the football world. Not even employees and teammates knew until moments before his presentation at a friendly against Atlético Madrid. So how did they pull it off?
What unfolded was a story with the intrigue of a spy thriller. The striker was the last to board the plane he took from the Netherlands to Porto last Sunday and timed his arrival on matchday to avoid crossing paths with anyone. Upon landing, he was the first off the plane and ushered into a van with tinted windows that drove him to the stadium. His entourage – anonymous to fans – collected his luggage.
In the van the club’s social media team were secretly gathering footage. “It’s quite strange,” De Jong told them. “In these times, with so much social media, to keep something like this a secret … It’s going to be a big surprise. Let’s hope we can keep it quiet until the presentation.”
The real challenge was yet to come: the medical. To avoid raising suspicion, Porto had registered De Jong in the clinic’s system as a handball player. The doctors and nurses had no idea they were assessing a high-profile football transfer.
Once the examinations were done, De Jong took a service lift from the clinic’s garage to the Estádio do Dragão’s first floor. There, he had a meal and waited. From a window, he watched his soon-to-be teammates arrive and saw them greeted by cheering fans, high fives exchanged and autographs signed. For three to four hours regular checks for leaks were made on social media among those in the know.
As kick-off approached, it was finally time to introduce De Jong to the team. The head coach, Francesco Farioli, gathered the squad in the dressing room and shocked them by walking in with the former Barcelona and Netherlands striker. After a short speech from Farioli, De Jong said hello to each player in turn. He will compete with Samu Aghehowa and Deniz Gül to lead the attack.
It was with shock and disbelief that the 49,000 fans in attendance greeted De Jong, who scored 18 goals and provided 13 assists for PSV last season before his contract expired. The stadium announcer had been calling the players out one by one and before introducing the captain, the last to be summoned, he teased a surprise signing, listing his previous clubs.
Then came the reveal: “And now, our new No 26, Luuk de Jong” – the cue for the 6ft 2in centre-forward to walk on to the pitch. Club journalists broadcasting the presentation had to look up his name to check his stats, caught out like everyone else. The plan was a success.
“I have to give credit to what Porto did with Luuk de Jong because there are always a lot of people involved,” says Pedro Mendes, the former Porto, Spurs and Portugal midfielder turned agent for MNM Sports Management. “When negotiations are being done for a player, you have the agents, the buying club, [often] a selling club, even the player’s family. The footballer can ask for friends’ or relatives’ opinions. Even inside the club, you have the scouting department, the financial director. It’s extremely difficult.”
If a leak happens in the early stages, the deal can be irreversibly damaged, Mendes says. He strives to keep deals under wraps but, in the age of social media, that has become nearly impossible. “At the airport, there is a system in place to see who goes in or out,” he says. “When I was a player, that didn’t exist. From our end, we try to keep everything private.”
In the 80s and 90s, Porto had a tradition of unveiling a surprise signing at what they term their presentation friendly. Back then keeping a secret was relatively easy — you just had to keep the newspapers at bay. The president, André Villas-Boas, wanted to revive that tradition, rekindling a childhood memory and offering fans an unforgettable moment.
“The president told me he remembered that, when he was a kid, the presentation day always came with a surprise,” De Jong said. “A player they didn’t know just walking out of the tunnel. He told me it would be amazing if we were able to achieve this today, especially with social media, travelling and airports. I told him we could give it a try.”
Farioli, who coached Ajax last season, led the negotiations with De Jong. The 34-year-old was convinced by the project and signed a one-year deal with an option to extend for another season. The process between the initial talks and the signing took about a week. Only Villas-Boas and a handful of Porto’s top directors knew and, for a fleeting moment, football returned to a bygone era.
