Alvalade president spoke at length with SIC on Friday night

Bruno de Carvalho spoke in an extensive interview with SIC on Friday night, sharing his thoughts on everything ranging from Jorge Jesus to the state of Portuguese football, the transfer market and the new-look Sporting squad.

"We have the players that we wanted and the squad that we wanted. I said that Sporting was in the market and that whatever happens we wouldn't put our objectives in danger, which is mainly to build a squad which enables us to fight for national titles. We are happy with the business we did. Of the 70 million we sold players for, 54 million ended up in Sporting's account", opened the Alvalade president.

Still focusing on the transfer market, Carvalho revealed: "Yesterday I was with Slimani and he knows exactly what Sporting has done for him. He was playing in the Algerian league and had only been playing professional football for two years. He learnt a lot here and told me that he will come over at the end of the season to celebrate the title with us. Our relationship is also great with João Mário. Sometimes people don't realise that we have to reconcile various things during the transfer market, including the club's interests and its finances."

Adrien was inevitably a question raised during the interview, with the Sporting leader responding: "I have learn a lot about certain realities in football. The transfer window is a really complicated period and there are various people around the players who influence things. I am speaking about the president of Lyon for example, who spoke about an agent that was offering around Sporting's players. I will repeat what we have already said officially: "Adrien is a player who was trained here, he is a true professional and a person I really admire."

Bruno de Carvalho went on to speak about his relationship with Jorge Jesus and the content of the Sporting coach's press conference this week."Jorge Jesus didn't say anything that surprised me. Everything is new when we join a project like this and of course the first steps are never easy. I have always said that Sporting needs quality and needs to be really demanding. We could only bring in such a good coach and squad through the hard work of a lot of people. Jorge Jesus isn't a coach for just any club. Some people are not able to build up long term projects with a coach, but with him it is easy. We are ambitious and we want to leave our mark here."

The Sporting president finished with a final word on the current state of Portuguese football in general: "Portuguese football could and should undergo some big changes. I think that some things ar already being done. The referees have to be at liberty to do their best and not just focus on what rating they get. We have to provide the right conditions so that referees can go out there and do their best, which includes the support of the video referee. I have always supported the idea and I hope it happens and breaths some new life into Portuguese football."