DECLAN OLLEY looks at Porto’s remarkable knack of winning trophies and beating the transfer system

MICHAEL LEWIS’ Moneyball has been an overwhelming success. His book, which has sold more than one million copies and led to a film starring Brad Pitt, focuses on an American baseball team, the Oakland A’s, which, in 2002, went against conventional wisdom to pursue a strategy that exploited players undervalued by the market.
Their achievements, as a result, were remarkable: the A’s clinched two consecutive West Division titles (2002 and 2003) and broke an Americ...