FC Porto, under Francesco Farioli, faces an urgent need for solutions in their attack. After the severe injury that sidelined Luuk de Jong in December, the team suffered another setback: a ligament issue with Samu, which will keep the team’s top scorer out until the end of the season, including the World Cup.
In Sunday’s away match against Nacional, it is expected that Deniz Gul will take the leading position in the attack, but there is another forward working at Olival to become a credible short-term alternative for the blues and whites.
This is Terem Moffi. Signed from Nice at the close of the winter market on loan, the Nigerian international was on the bench in the derby with Sporting but has not yet reached the ideal physical condition—a crucial requirement in Farioli’s game model, a coach who has previously worked with the 26-year-old forward during the 2023/24 season at the French club.
Moffi is following an individualized training plan at CTFD Jorge Costa, aiming to accelerate the recovery of the desired physical parameters. The forward has been alternating days of intensive work—including extra hours in the gym and on the Olival pitch—with careful management of workloads.
This is not unusual, considering that Moffi has been regularly participating in team training since his arrival. However, it gains more relevance because the last competitive minutes he played were over two months ago: his last match for Nice was on November 30, when he played the full 90 minutes in the defeat to Lorient, an episode followed by alleged assaults by Le Gym fans on some players, including Terem Moffi.
An additional advantage is that Moffi is already familiar with FC Porto’s game dynamics. The forward believes that reuniting with Farioli could help him rediscover the form that, in 2023/24 and before suffering a complex injury to his left knee, troubled defenses in French football. The club is supporting this process, and if the adaptation is successful, the loan could become permanent: the board holds a purchase option set at 8 million euros.
