"Bem-vindo a casa Jorge Jesus" (Welcome home Jorge Jesus) was the message that Sporting Clube de Portugal used on their Twitter account to formally confirm the arrival of the Benfica boss as their new coach. In one sense, it was a simple sentiment; the tweet was accompanied by a photo of the 20-something Jesus as a Sporting player in the 1970s, resembling an Exile On Main Street-era Keith Richards.
There was, however, nothing innocent or anodyne about it. Announcing the recruitment of the man who is indisputably the best coach in Portugal was one thing. Taking away the man behind their local rivals' recent triumphs, who has been so synonymous with a style and swagger that had made Benfica both sexy and successful again, was well worth underlining. Sporting were crowing -- he's one of ours, not one of yours.
Bem-vindo a casa, Jorge Jesus! #BemVindoJesus pic.twitter.com/VLWvs5Vv0o
- Sporting CP (@Sporting_CP) June 5, 2015
When the rumour first surfaced that Jesus could make the move across Lisbon from Luz to Alvalade (one of the major sports dailies, A Bola, led with the story on May 20), it seemed just too devilish to be true. He had just led Benfica to a second consecutive Liga title for the first time in 31 years. Nine days later, the Eagles would retain the Taca da Liga, beating Maritimo for a 10th major trophy in his six seasons in charge.
So much had changed in those three decades. Porto took over as the dominant force in the Portuguese game, but Jesus began to turn the tide after his arrival in 2009. With the notable exception of 2010-11, when his good friend Andre Villas-Boas' Porto team obliterated all comers, Benfica have been in the thick of the chase every season.
It hasn't always had a happy ending. Despite all the successes, perhaps the most easily recalled image of Jesus at Benfica is of him sinking to his knees on the touchline at Estadio do Dragao in May 2013 after Kelvin's stoppage-time winner for Porto essentially snatched the title at the very last second. Just in case there was any doubt about how much that memory still burns Benfiquistas, departing goalkeeper Artur told A Bola recently that "every night, I feel that ball going past my finger."
That was merely stage one of a barely-believable late season blowout, with Jesus' typically spectacular side going onto suffer late Europa League final agony at the hands of Chelsea, before losing the final of the Taca de Portugal to Guimaraes. Still, president Luis Filipe Vieira stuck with Jesus. The explanation for that goes a long way towards explaining exactly why Sporting's capture of Jesus now is such a coup.
What he brings to the table is more than just daring, attacking football and the strong possibility of trophies at the end of it. Jesus is a dream for pragmatics as well as romantics. If he won praise for transforming Benfica straight away on the pitch after his 2009 arrival, that championship season was only the tip of the iceberg.
Under his tutelage, players developed and their values skyrocketed. David Luiz and Ramires, both signed by Chelsea, were two of the first but the development of Fabio Coentrao was perhaps the best case study of the Jesus factor. Before Jesus, Coentrao was a talented but frustrating winger, thought of as a wild child with an attitude problem. The coach, however, saw something else in him, converting him into a remarkably accomplished left-back, who gave Benfica excellent service before being sold to Real Madrid for €30 million in 2011.
He repeated the trick, again and again. In the space of a season, midfielder Axel Witsel was transformed from a promising midfielder into a titan who could map out a game at will -- who was then sold to Zenit St Petersburg for €40 million and a sevenfold profit. Nemanja Matic, a makeweight in the Luiz deal, changed from a bit-part squad player into one of Europe's premier defensive midfielders and was eventually sold back to Chelsea for €25 million in 2014. Enzo Perez, seriously injured and returned to Estudiantes on loan, was brought back, morphed from a winger to a central midfield dynamo, and played in the World Cup final for Argentina before becoming another lucrative sale, €25 million, to Valencia in January.
When you consider that Jesus helped to make the club a business comparable to Porto in terms of player sales, it's hard not to conclude that Benfica dropped the ball. With his contract running down, Vieira tried to persuade Jesus to take a cut in his €4 million annual wages (a deal given to him in 2010 to ward off Porto interest), with the club needing to tighten the belt. If his wage was huge by Portuguese standards, it was also a drop in the ocean compared to player profits in his era.
This is where Sporting stepped in. Backed by wealthy Angolan shareholder Antonio Sobrinho, they gave Jesus a three-year deal worth some €18 million. With no offers from abroad appealing to Jesus, his mind was quickly made up.
Sporting's outspoken president Bruno de Carvalho will expect bang for his buck. The way in which he has conducted the deal is open to interpretation, certainly in how now ex-coach Marco Silva was treated as it was widely reported that Jesus had got the job before Silva was even fired.
Silva had been on shaky ground earlier in the year despite good results, due to a major clash of personalities with de Carvalho. When the former Estoril boss was finally removed from his post last week, the president attempted to back up his decision by releasing a 400-page report of supposed infractions by Silva, which included such gems as allegedly wearing the wrong kit for a club engagement.
Jesus already has the first battle won -- unlike Silva, he will coach without the famously hands-on de Carvalho on the bench next to him. He will also get chances to work with young players like Joao Mario and Tobias Figuerido, whose equivalents at Benfica -- in the shapes of Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo -- were sold from under him. Expectation is huge, but so is Jesus' confidence. Already the 2014-15 Liga campaign oozes with possibility.