Porto's policy of buying talent from South America and making a sizable profit is well known and lucrative.
But the current crop could also make a mark on the field as they qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals by thrashing Liverpool's conquerors FC Basel last night.
That makes them real dark horses in this year's competition especially given the talent they possess in Yacine Brahimi, Real Madrid loanee Casemiro, Colombian striker Jackson Martinez and loanee Oliver Torres.
"[A lot of people] are excited now about what Porto could possibly do in the Champions League depending on the draw. If they can avoid Bayern and Barcelona especially and maybe Real Madrid, against the other sides they might have a chance," said Tom Kundert, founder of Portugoal.net , co-author of A Journey Through Portuguese Football and Portugal correspondent for World Soccer Magazine on Off The Ball tonight.
Despite the fact that the club have raked in large sums from player sales, Kundert does not expect Porto to keep their key players long-term to build into a threat on the European scene.
But he also explained how Porto are a step above many other clubs when it comes to scouting.
"The sporting director at Porto did a really interesting interview a couple of years ago when he said they've got 180 scouts scattered all over the world and they have what they call a shadow team, which means they have two players identified for every position in the team and so they know that when one player goes, they already know they have their target. So it's just a matter of putting that into place."
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