Jesus’s Portugal squad balances renewal with a group target

At the Cidade do Futebol in Oeiras, Jorge Jesus smiled before announcing Portugal’s 28-player squad on 6 November. The press conference came about a day after Cristiano Ronaldo said he was leaving the national team, putting the first squad announcement since his departure against a sudden change in Portugal’s familiar picture. Denmark and Wales are the final opponents in the Nations League group, and first place is still to be settled.

The squad gives Jesus two jobs at once: secure first place in the group and begin shaping Portugal beyond Ronaldo. Seven players are new compared with his previous selection, including two receiving their first senior call-ups, but the changes are not a promise of a wholesale reset. Jesus says club form has earned the newcomers their places, while repeated call-ups can bring young players closer to his ideas. Portugal have already qualified for the quarter-finals and need only one point from the final two matches to finish top.

On 27 October, Ronaldo remained a possibility: Jorge Jesus had included him on Portugal’s preliminary list for Denmark and Wales, but that did not confirm a call-up. By 6 November, Jesus had named his final group without the record-holder, turning the question of whether he might return into a clear absence from the squad.

The seven additions are not all newcomers to Portugal’s senior environment. Alberto Costa, the FC Porto right-back, and Gustavo Varela, a forward at Monza, have received their first senior call-ups. Geovany Quenda and Rodrigo Mora have been called up or attended senior camps before, but neither has yet played for the senior side. António Silva, Mateus Fernandes and Carlos Forbs return after previous senior appearances.

Five of the seven had been with Portugal’s under-21s, giving Jesus a route from the youth setup into the senior group. The other two returning players already know senior international football; the first-time selections take the squad in a different direction. The mix makes renewal more than a symbolic label: it brings in players at different stages of familiarity with Portugal’s senior team.

Jesus presented the selections as a response to what the players had shown at their clubs, rather than a call-up based only on age or potential. He linked that form to a longer-term aim, describing the group as part of Portugal’s renewal and future.

Compared with the last squad, there are seven new players who are showing at their clubs a level of performance compatible with a call-up to the senior team. Five of them were in the under-21 side. Taking Cris’s words, we want renewal and a future for the Portuguese national team.

Gustavo Varela’s scoring gave Jesus a clear case for his first senior call-up. The Monza forward had nine league goals and was described by some reports as leading the Serie A scoring list. Jesus also pointed to his age: Varela is 21.

Varela is a young player who is the top scorer in Serie A, and to do that you have to have quality. That was the idea behind believing in his football. He is also 21.

For Alberto Costa, Jesus’s assessment came from watching FC Porto. He sees the right-back improving and believes his physical strength, technical ability and positioning fit the way he wants players in that role to operate.

I watched several FC Porto matches. I think he is a right-back who has been improving over the years and this season. Physically, he is very strong. Technically, he has great ability. His positional characteristics also fit my idea of how a player in that position should play.

Jesus’s case for the other young options rested on what he had seen in their recent roles. Geovany Quenda has had few starts for Chelsea, but Jesus singled out his display against Tottenham. Rodrigo Mora, at Roma, had been involved in goals and assists; Jesus said that contribution suited what he wanted from the team in these two matches. The choices are specific: a striker’s scoring, a full-back’s fit with the coach’s positional demands, and attacking contributions from two younger players.

Jesus wants the younger players to learn his methods through regular contact with the senior squad, not simply to prepare them for a distant tournament. That makes these call-ups part of a working process: players can become familiar with his ideas before they are asked to deliver in a major competition.

I want to start adapting young players, not with the 2030 World Cup or the European Championship in mind, but to my ideas. With call-ups, they can be closer and better prepared to develop the ideas I have for the national team.

There is a practical complication in the two fixtures. Seven Portugal players are at risk of suspension: a booking against Denmark would rule a player out of the Wales match, while a booking against Wales could mean missing the quarter-finals. Jesus said anyone suspended after the Denmark game would return to their club rather than travel with the squad to Cardiff.

Ronaldo’s departure closes a 23-year Portugal career, leaving the national team’s record-holder for both appearances, with 234, and goals, with 146. His own message was brief, but made clear the connection remained: “Portugal will always be in me.”

Portugal will always be in me.

Jesus said he had thought Ronaldo might return and intended to call him, but would respect his decision to leave. Expresso sees the new selections as a rapid shift towards renewal, interpreting Gustavo Varela’s inclusion as filling a forward place opened by Ronaldo’s departure. That is the newspaper’s reading of the squad, rather than a role Jesus explicitly assigned to Varela.

Ronaldo’s exit also leaves a question of leadership, and Jesus says the armband follows international appearances rather than a decision by the coach. Bernardo Silva, the most-capped player remaining, is next in that order and will take over as captain. Jesus also named Rúben Dias, João Cancelo, Rúben Neves and Bruno Fernandes among the five most-capped players left in the squad.

In the national team, the manager does not choose the captains. They are chosen by international appearances. At the moment, five players have the most appearances, and the player with the most after Cris is Bernardo Silva.

The handover comes after an era that brought Portugal the 2016 European Championship and the 2019 Nations League under Fernando Santos. Their relationship later soured. Ronaldo was left on the bench for Portugal’s 2022 World Cup quarter-final against Morocco, which ended in elimination. The titles and the difficult finish sit side by side in the history the new captain inherits.

At Oeiras, Jesus smiled before announcing the squad; next comes the evidence that cannot be read from a list. Braga and Cardiff will show which of the selected players earns a place on the pitch, and Portugal’s final group position will be clear when the second match ends.

• 14 November: Portugal host Denmark in Braga.
• 17 November: Portugal face Wales in Cardiff.