AC Vila Meã, FC Penafiel, FC Paços de Ferreira, Vitória SC and Boavista FC. Miguel Reisinho’s formative years have gone from strength to strength. Solidly, the young Portuguese rose through the ranks during his formative years and made it to one of Portugal’s best academies, Vitória SC. However, in the transition to senior football, an injury delayed his development, and the move to Invicta was made as a way of relaunching what had been a good career. And it worked: after a few intermittent seasons, he is now one of the cornerstones of Petit’s team.
I first saw Miguel Reisinho in an Under-19 game between FC Porto and Vitória SC. At the time, he was an outspoken advanced midfielder. Nowadays, even though he plays in the more advanced areas of the pitch, he is a centre midfielder. As such, as well as being able to play high up the pitch, he is also able to help the team out on the ball. It is common to see him picking up play at the back of the opposition’s first line of defence. In other words, he is a more complete midfielder, capable of playing in any of the midfield roles.
From a physical point of view, Reisinho is a morphologically mesomorphic player of tall stature. He has a good physique, which helps him in one-on-one duels, as well as protecting possession. He can withstand the loads inherent in one-on-one duels and maintain possession of the ball when exposed.
In attacking moments, Miguel Reisinho is an elegant player. Technically developed, he can link up in short spaces thus cancelling out the opposing team’s pressure, as the young Portuguese reads the game well and finds it easy to find the open man. What is more, when he has space, he can get forward, draw his opponent in, and time his release to his team-mate well. It happens both in the back and when he enters the final third of the attack – in the latter area, the quality of his final pass should also be emphasized. Finalizing has always been one of his hallmarks, thanks to the combination of power and placement he manages to bring to his shots. This season, he has excelled at this, but by winning aerial duels in the opponent’s area – the two goals he scored, as well as an assist against FC Famalicão, came from a header.
Defensively, he is a player with a good attitude, showing commitment to the defensive tasks he has given. He can press according to the height at which Petit places the defensive block, preventing the opposition from progressing up the pitch. He has a good reaction to loss and can be quicker in defence, although he is reasonable at running backward.
If he had not suffered such a severe injury during his transition to professional football, we would be seeing Miguel Reisinho at a different level. Still, if he can maintain the level of display, he has shown up to this stage of the season and keep up with Boavista FC’s good momentum, it is possible that he could leap. Based on his potential, I reckon he could reach the level of teams like SC Braga or AZ Alkmaar. These are teams that like to value their youngsters, make sense of possession, and play attacking football, something that suits the profile of the former Portugal Under-20 international.