Parents... has anyone here actually dealt with Armandinho Manjate? He was presented to us as SC Braga's Head of International Scouting. I'm just a dad trying to figure out whether I dodged a bullet or completely blew it and cost my 15-year-old son the trip of his dreams.
My son attended the SC Braga ID camp in Toronto and got selected. Mr. Manjate was presented as the guy who finds international talent, knows the top people in Portuguese football, and has been behind some huge careers and transfers. After all the marketing, I figured he was the real deal, although I'll admit the modesty meter felt like it was hovering somewhere around zero.
Then everything went sideways.
A whatsapp list with about 40 accounts, I recon maybe half the attendance was done up. We were told to pay a 50% deposit that day or my son would lose his place. The organizers kept saying they were simply following Mr. Manjate's instructions and that this was "SC Braga protocol." Repeat.
Before dropping $5k+ and sending my kid to another continent - after also being told to buy him a 1-way ticket - I asked what I thought were pretty normal parent questions: insurance, the terms, and what happened after the trial. Sports insurance is tricky in Ontario, so I wanted to understand how that was being handled. Plus what's happening after the trial.
No extra time. No paperwork until after payment. I kept asking questions, got removed from the WhatsApp group, and then my son was removed from the roster for "not following the SC Braga process."
The whole "pay today or lose the opportunity" thing just kept setting off alarm bells in my head. I've been to Portugal many times, and I've always found Portuguese people to be incredibly nice. That's honestly why part of me still struggles to believe a club like Braga would expect families to make such a decision under that kind of time pressure. Just felt for me as undue, this urgency dressed as commitment. Maybe that's how elite youth football works. Maybe it isn't. You be smarter than me.
My boy isn't a unicorn player. He's just a low key, hardworking kid who would've LOVED the chance to go to Portugal and show Braga what he's got. I ended up hitting the brakes on what he hoped for for months and I feel bad 100%.
Trust your gut... or pay first and ask questions later. You be smarter than me.