Florentino: It Took Time to Adapt
Sunday, 4th Oct 2026 12:41 by Kallum Brisset
Town midfielder Florentino Luís says his debut season in the Premier League with Burnley was a huge learning experience and that he returns to the division a much better player.
Aside from two brief loan spells in France and Spain, Florentino spent his entire career at Portuguese giants Benfica before getting his first taste of English football at Turf Moor last season.
A difficult season followed that ultimately ended in the Clarets’ relegation to the Championship, but the Blues brought the midfielder to Suffolk over the summer for an initial fee of £16 million.
Now with a season of Premier League football under his belt, Florentino believes he has a much better understanding of what it takes for a newly promoted side to survive at the top level.
“When I came here last year, it was a bit difficult in the beginning to adapt to the game,” he admitted. “Once you know how things go and how fast you need to think, you get a better player because the quality that you can bring to the team every time will give something different.
“If the players think like that, that they need to do something different and not just the basics, for sure you can have better results.
“It was a year that gave me so much as a person and as a footballer. I could understand that you can never relax because other teams have the same goal to stay in the Premier League.
“If you want to reach that goal, we need to give 100 per cent every time in training because we will get better and the results will be good for us because the quality is here in the club.
“We must know that just quality is not enough, we need to give everything.”
Like any new signing, settling off the pitch is arguably just as important as adapting to a new style of play and teammates on it.
As is evident from his own [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@florentino_luis61), father-of-three Florentino is very much a humble family man and is extremely grateful to have the support from those closest to him.
He said: “For me, it’s very important. They are pillars to my life, they give all the strength that I need during the days.
“Having here my wife, my kids, and my friends because they come sometimes. It’s close to Portugal here, so a lot of friends are coming to my home to visit, which is very good for me.
“I can feel that I have the energy from my family, and they are pushing me forward every time to give everything that I have on the pitch.
“If your family is well in the city and your family is well received by the people, of course you will say for yourself. I need to give everything that I have because they are giving everything that I need to my family, so I need to give back on the pitch.”
Religion is another aspect that is central to everything in both Florentino’s football career and personal life, with the devout Christian speaking openly about the importance of his faith.
“It’s the thing that supports me every day,” he said. “It’s the first thing that I do every day in the morning, and if I’m here it’s because God gave me this opportunity to be here, and the way that I say thank you is giving everything.
“This shows to me that we can know that we are not alone in everything that we do, not just on the pitch but outside of the pitch. That we have something, we have somebody that can help doing the things, and if we do good things in the future, good things will come back to us.”
Having been born in the Angolan city of Lobito, Florentino moved to Portugal at a young age and has since been capped a staggering 84 times across various youth levels for the Seleção das Quinas.
The Town midfielder is still awaiting a senior call-up, but the 27-year-old has not lost any ambitions of representing his country in the near future.
He said: “It’s a dream for me. It’s one of my dreams to be a player for the national team of Portugal.
“Every day I want more. I am a player that is very thankful for the things that I have in the present, but I’m always looking forward because we can always reach something bigger. What I believe is if you focus on the present, for sure good things will come in the future.
“I think we’ll change a bit because some people of one generation now are coming to the end. Of course, there is still a lot of quality and the old players give a lot, they give experience to the team that is very important, even in the big tournaments like the World Cup.
“I think we’ll have more opportunities for the young players and I’m fighting to have my place.”
_Photo: Keeran Marquis via Reuters Connect_