William Gomes Scout Report At FC Porto 2026/2027: A Liverpool Target With Mohamed Salah Heir Potential - Player Analysis

It’s been almost two years since FC Porto spent a reported €9.51m to bring Brazilian winger William Gomes (170cm/5’7”, 64kg/141lbs) to Estádio do Dragão from São Paulo. 

Since then, he’s firmly established himself as one of the most exciting young wingers in Europe. 

The 20-year-old is one of the most promising left-footed right wingers in the world, hence why it’s no surprise he’s been linked with a transfer to post-Mohamed Salah Liverpool, as well as some of their Premier League rivals. 

Gomes consistently demonstrates an attacking mentality in the final third, with the intelligence and intent to put himself in positions from where he can offer a valuable passing option to teammates and materially influence the outcome of a particular move. 

His main strengths lie in his transition threat, movement in behind, acceleration, technical quality with the ball at his feet, and that aforementioned direct attacking mentality, which is evident in how he approaches the game. 

He is also up for putting a defensive shift in, both in terms of pressing as required by the coach’s tactics or dropping in to support his full-back. 

Still, Gomes is raw. 

While he consistently demonstrates a positive approach to attacking situations, he can still work on optimising his decision-making inside the final third (potentially releasing the ball earlier when the situation favours that solution to dribbling the defender). 

This is why his dribble volume is more impressive than his dribble success rate. 

Similarly, he needs to work on his combination play. 

Gomes’ game is built around receiving, attacking and finishing, not necessarily engaging in intricate combinations with teammates in the final third. 

If he can develop his game to become more proficient in those areas, while also improving the consistency of his end product, then the sky’s the limit for a player with his profile. 

This William Gomes scout report and player analysis examines the young winger’s game via examples of the player in action and data. 

William Gomes Stats & Positioning

Figure 1 shows William Gomes’ heat map for the 2026/2027 Portuguese Primeira Liga season so far. 

The 20-year-old winger has exclusively played on the right wing for Porto this term, typically playing just over an hour per game before being subbed off. 

In eight league appearances for Porto this season so far, he’s scored two goals and provided two assists. 

Gomes has only made one UEFA Champions League appearance so far, as he’s been out of action due to an ankle injury for the past month. 

Within Francesco Farioli’s Porto tactics, Gomes provides the width for his side on the right-hand side of a five-man attacking line during the ball progression phase.

This is reflected on the heat map, where we see Gomes getting involved quite wide in the deeper parts of the opposing half. 

When he receives the ball in those wide positions, he will frequently carry it inside and attack the full-back while dribbling towards the box, and when his team advances into the final third via the opposite wing, he will also enter quite central positions, almost converting himself into a right-sided centre-forward as he looks to make inviting runs and place himself in the right positions to offer a valuable passing option for his creative teammates. 

William Gomes Heat Map 2026/2027

William Gomes Transition Threat

Receiving in transition is one of Gomes’ main strengths, thanks to his electric speed, tricky dribbling and attacking mentality. 

Below, in Figures 2-4, we see an example of Gomes driving deep into the opposition’s half after initially receiving inside his own half after central midfielder Pablo Rosario has just won the ball back.  

After regaining possession, Rosario immediately gets his head up and picks out Gomes in some space on the right wing. 

A key trait of Gomes’ is how he’ll always look to use his first touch to progress, rather than to simply secure possession. 

Once the ball arrives at his feet here, he immediately begins making significant progress into the opponent’s half, driving at their full-back. 

Gomes attacks the space ahead of him aggressively, driving the defender backwards and keeping his forward momentum going as he approaches the penalty box. 

Aware of Gomes’ tendency to cut in onto his stronger left foot from the right wing, the full-back orients his body to guard against that potential move from the Brazilian. 

However, as play moves on into Figure 4, we see that Gomes successfully beats his man by quickly attacking on the outside. 

This quick movement completely wrong-foots the defender and allows Gomes to pull the ball back onto his shooting foot from close range, which leads to a goal. 

While the technical quality and dribbling intelligence shown once he receives the ball are undoubtedly impressive, it’s also important to emphasise how Gomes’ initial movement towards the right wing, once teammate Rosario regained possession in midfield, was crucial to this counterattack. 

That movement made him an inviting passing option for the midfielder and allowed him to become involved in a very favourable transition situation. 

In our second counterattacking example below, Gomes initially receives in a congested right-wing channel far from goal but beats his opponents through a lethal combination of pace and technique.