Destino Aventura is the section where A BOLA introduces players scattered across the most remote corners of the world. At 26 years old, nearing the end of his contract with Feirense, Samuel Teles decided to leave Portugal for the first time and head abroad, specifically to Romania, where he represented Oțelul for the last two seasons. Last summer, he moved to Universitatea Craiova, where he found a strong Portuguese structure, despite being the only Portuguese player in the squad. Adapted to Romanian football, he quickly became an undisputed starter and fulfilled several dreams in his career, including playing in European competitions. Now he is missing the title, and his team is in first place. – How did the opportunity to go to Romania arise? – I was at Feirense, finishing my contract, it was my second year in the Second League. At the time, I felt I needed a different step in my career. I remember talking to my agent and saying, 'Look, either I go to a First League here in Portugal, which is my main goal, or I think it's better to go abroad, to try other markets, to see if I can be valued differently. Because, at this moment, if that opportunity doesn't arise in Portugal, I think it might be the best thing to do.' At the same time, I had already shared this idea with my agent, and a proposal from Romania came up — Romania starts a bit earlier because the championship stops in winter due to the cold, so recruitment begins a bit sooner. A proposal came from Romania and even from another country. I spoke with a friend who was playing in Romania at the time, and he spoke very highly of the league, the conditions of the clubs, the football itself, and how they live football here, which also positively surprised me. And I made the decision to take the risk and come. – Then you moved to Universitatea Craiova. You had an immediate impact, becoming an undisputed starter. How do you assess these first months? – It was very positive. I was at Oțelul, which is a different club. Universitatea Craiova is a big club here in Romania, and as soon as I had the interest, I was naturally very pleased because I knew the reality of the club. And when I came here, I liked it a lot. I really liked the reality of the club; the conditions are very good, the training facilities, the conditions they provide us even during travels. It was a club where we were going to fight for European competitions — as we ended up playing in the Conference League — which aligned with my goals. I saw that they valued me in that way. They already knew me from the Romanian league, so days after I arrived, I was very well received. The coach who brought me, Mirel Rădoi, a Romanian coach who was already here and knew me from the league, valued me a lot. I arrived here and started playing right away. Here we have a very strong, very competitive team. For each position, we have two or three players with a lot of quality, so I knew it would be difficult, that we would all fight for a place, but fortunately, with my work, I managed to get in and play, and we had success. Because besides playing, the team is doing well. That's the most important thing; we need to have victories. Right now, we are in first place, but we are in the fight. And we made a very good impression in European competitions; we qualified for Europe, where they hadn't been for many years. We are experiencing a very good season here, and I am very happy to be part of this good season, which is still halfway through and can still be much more successful. – You have already mentioned the passionate way in which Romanians live football. Craiova is a club with great pressure and very demanding fans. How do you handle that responsibility? – Oh yes, Craiova is also known for that. It has very demanding fans. It is a club that has been in the top 3 for many years, providing all the conditions, but for one reason or another, they haven't been champions for many years. You can feel that the fans are impatient, that demand to win titles again and to conquer like in the past. I handle it naturally. We are players, we are professionals, and we know that the higher the level, the greater the demand and, in a way, the responsibility. Now, I handle it naturally, always giving my best, and I don't try to get too caught up in the emotions of the fans. I try to analyze calmly how things are going when they go well, when they don't go so well, because we need to have this balance; I think that's the most important thing. So I like that pressure. I like playing in full stadiums, and here we often play with 20,000 to 30,000 people. And I try to take that as a positive part, as support, to play in an atmosphere… When I was a child, I dreamed of playing in stadiums like this. I take it from that perspective; I feel very happy because I can do what I love. I try not to see it as negative pressure but to enjoy it to the fullest with the responsibility of knowing that we have to win and perform well, but that is based on work. Then we also have to have the personality to play in these environments, but I honestly like it; I enjoy it. – The club is now leading the championship. Do you feel this is the golden opportunity to win the title? Especially considering that FCSB and Cluj, two of the main rivals, are mid-table? – We feel it here, and especially in Romania, it feels like a good moment, that the team is experiencing a good moment. Even by the image we left in the Conference. We had three playoffs against strong teams, and we eliminated all three. Then, the image and the results and the performance we had in the Conference games gave… We have a very good image in Romania. People recognize our quality, recognize our work, and feel that, even compared to other years, we are more complete, more capable of fighting for the title. Now, we are on the right track, but it's still halfway through. And here in Romania, there is a peculiarity: the championship is different. Now we are entering the second half, the points will be divided in half, and that makes a big difference because there will be a championship playoff with the top six, and anything can happen. I am starting to have some experience in this, and I know that it ends up being about the moments of the team. We are going through a good moment, fortunately. We have to continue on the right path, and I believe that this year could be the year we can be very happy here and win the title. Now, I don't see it as something easy; I think it will be difficult because this is still going to split, and there are still many games left. And we are on the right path, but that's it; we are on the right path, and we have to continue on this path because at any moment football, in Portugal, in Romania, in England, changes very quickly. And one day you're up there, the next day you have two or three bad results, and you're mid-table. So we have to stay calm and continue game by game because we clearly have the quality to fight for it, but we will see that on the field. – How was it to play for the first time in European competitions? I believe it was a special milestone. – It was, yes. It was a very special milestone in my career. I was very happy. Above all, also feeling that I was part of that achievement. Last year, my teammates did a fantastic job qualifying for the playoffs — which is natural for this club; this club almost qualifies for the playoffs every year, always ends up in the top 3, as I told you. But there are always games; in the qualifications, we had three playoffs, meaning six games where we faced teams like Basaksehir, Trnava, and we also went to Sarajevo… Which are tough games, and I played all the matches and felt that I contributed to that. That made it even more special. And then, from the moment I debuted and played against teams of the level of Mainz from the Bundesliga, and we even won… We had a fantastic performance in Athens against AEK, and then unfortunately, in the last two minutes… I think this could be a dramatic football story, the way we didn't qualify based on our performances and results, the combination of results that happened. But I look back with a bit of regret because I think we deserved to have passed, and I believe we would have gone far because I think we have a strong team. After facing these teams, I think we have a team that could go far, but I also look back with a sense of pride and satisfaction that we left a very good image, especially in Romania, where we only had two teams this year in European competitions (it was us and FCSB in the Europa League), and we left a good image of Romania in European competitions. I think that was important, and it was a feeling of pride, to feel that valuation, that contribution. And it was a beautiful milestone in my career that I hope continues to progress and be on even better stages. – Did you have any conversations with the club's management before accepting the challenge here, with sporting director Mário Felgueiras? You mentioned that your former coach had some influence on the decision, but I also ask if the presence of many Portuguese in the structure played a role. – When I learned about the proposal, at the time, I only knew that Mário [Felgueiras] was here, I think. I think at that time, Mário was the only one as sporting director. And the conversations I had were with Mário and the coach at the time, Mirel Rădoi, and those conversations had a significant weight for me. The conversations had a great impact because I was finishing my contract with Oțelul, I felt it was time for a change, and I needed a new challenge in my career. In a way, I even looked at it as an experience outside of Romania, to be very honest, that was what I was looking for, but then I was contacted by Mário, who wanted to have a meeting with me and the coach at the time, Mirel Rădoi, and after the conversation we had, it made me accept. Because it aligned with what I was looking for in my career, which was to fight for titles, which was the sporting part, to fight for European competitions, to go to European competitions, and this club gave me those conditions. I knew the reality, I knew the conditions of the stadium, the demands, that pressure, and that is something that we as players have a responsibility to live with daily… it's not for everyone, but I like it. That motivates me to train even more because we know that this matters not only to us but to many people, and that is a great motivation for me. And when I came here, one of the main things was to fight for titles and go to European competitions. That was what made me accept right away. – And now with the arrival of a Portuguese coach, Mister Filipe Coelho, does it make things easier compared to a foreign coach, or does it not change that much? – It's different. This is my first experience abroad with a Portuguese coach. First, before the mister arrived, I didn't want Mister Mirel to leave because he was the coach who brought me in; he is also a very good coach — he has had stints both as a player and as a coach in Saudi Arabia, in big clubs, and the Romanian national team, so he was a coach I also learned a lot from. I didn't want him to leave, but life is like that, and things happen. And here with Filipe's arrival, I confess that he was a coach I didn't know because he had many years abroad as Paulo Bento's assistant, and I ended up getting to know him here. But it always helps to speak the same language because it aids communication. He was a coach who came with new ideas that I think also helped us, giving us different things to our game. And in a way, I was also very happy to get to know him and the whole structure he brought with him, as he also brought staff with him. And it's a new experience for me because I have a Portuguese coach; we speak the same language, we come from the same culture. So here we are living a different experience. – With so many Portuguese in the structure, have you made any requests to the management to have a compatriot on the team, or is it a bit indifferent? – No, I don't get involved in those decisions. Of course, if they ask for my opinion, I give it, but I don't get involved in those decisions. I joke a lot with them because we are Portuguese, and you know, when we are abroad, we feel that longing to speak Portuguese, to have some jokes that were typical in Portugal and that here are more difficult or we have to adapt to other languages and cultures. So I joke a lot with them, but when it comes to that coach-player, director relationship, there is a clear line where each one does their job, and that's how it should be. – And what is the day-to-day like in such a Portuguese environment? – The day-to-day is somewhat similar to what I had in Portugal. We have morning training, we have breakfast at the club, we do our training there, and if we want to go to the gym in the afternoon, we can, we have lunch at the club. The club provides us with fantastic conditions to carry out our work. If we train in the afternoon, we also have dinner at the club. They are even building a larger gym to give us even more conditions to do our work. In terms of staff, not only the Portuguese but it is already a very complete structure that allows us to work in the best way. I spent the first two years alone; now my girlfriend came with my little son, and he ends up being my company here. In Portugal, I would have friends and family. That is the big difference; it is just us. – And what was the biggest challenge upon arriving in Romania and also at this specific club? – Regarding the challenge, I think the challenge is somewhat related to that. I think the biggest challenge is being away for some time. I start to look back and spend most of my year here, away from my family, from my friends. In a way, I am living a great moment in my career, which I already anticipated from my work and was what I was looking for. What makes me very happy, and at the same time, I feel that it was something I would have loved for my friends back in Portugal, my family, to experience closely with me: to see these stadiums, 20,000, 30,000 people, many of whom are singing for you. That would be a beautiful thing to share with those people. And the biggest challenge, in my opinion, I think is being away; it's missing some moments because our life as a player forces us to make these difficult decisions, like now I am in training camp, missing many birthdays, missing weddings, Christmas… I think these are the big challenges, in my opinion. – That said, you still have a contract for a few more years. Is the goal to continue abroad and eventually return to Portugal at the end of your career, or would you be open to that in the near future? – This is how I always say: it depends. It depends on the club, it depends on the context, the project, so to speak. Naturally, the Portuguese market is a market that likes to sell. It is a selling market. I am currently 28 years old; I know that the Portuguese market likes to buy young players to sell. That was something I also liked about some clubs I felt here, that they buy a lot based on performance, sometimes even being of an older age, 26, 27, they continue to invest based on performance. To answer your question: I have ambitions to return to Portugal. Now I don't know if this will be the moment because, with things going well here, I certainly believe that more opportunities abroad may arise. Now, naturally, I know the Portuguese reality very well. If a proposal from Portugal arose that was interesting to me, I would obviously return. Now, being realistic, I think at this moment it is a time to continue abroad, but later in my career, I intend to return to Portugal. – Is one of the goals also to play in the Primeira Liga? – Yes, without a doubt. It was something I haven't done yet. It was what I wanted to do earlier; my goal was to play in the Primeira Liga in Portugal and then venture abroad. I would have liked to have these experiences abroad, but my career… What I wanted was progression in my career, and I was at Feirense in the Second League. In the first year, we were close to promotion, and that would have been easier to happen because I was already at the club and was already playing in the Primeira Liga. That didn't happen; the Primeira Liga didn't come up, and I had to make choices. But yes, one of the objectives would be to play in the Primeira Liga.
Samuel Teles Destino Aventura remains central to this story.
Samuel Teles Destino Aventura remains central to this story.
Read more in Serie A news. and related tags: Samuel Teles, Destino Aventura.