Gabriel Mec to FC Porto
Grêmio wonderkid seals €11m move

1. 2 Sept
   Official announcement

   FC Porto officially confirmed Gabriel Mec's signing and presented him on a contract until 2031.
2. 30 Aug
   Fee agreed

   Grêmio said they had accepted FC Porto's proposal and authorised Gabriel Mec to travel to Portugal to complete the move.

FC Porto have completed the signing of Grêmio's 18-year-old attacking midfielder Gabriel Mec in an initial €11m deal, with the Brazilian putting pen to paper on a contract until 2031.

FC Porto have completed the signing of Gabriel Mec from Grêmio, officially presenting the 18-year-old Brazilian attacking midfielder on a contract running to June 2031. Porto's own statement put the fee at a fixed €11m for the player's full economic rights, with a further €1m payable depending on objectives being met. Grêmio have kept a 12% sell-on clause on any future transfer, and Mec has been handed the number 37 shirt along with a release clause reported at €80m.

The move had been in the pipeline since the last weekend of August, when Grêmio confirmed they had accepted Porto's proposal and authorised Mec to travel to Portugal to finalise the paperwork. He touched down, went through the formalities and was unveiled by the club, telling reporters he arrives 'with the mentality to help the club' and describing himself as the kind of player who 'likes to improvise' across the front line.

Porto have moved for Mec partly to refill the creative gap left by Rodrigo Mora's sale to Roma. Scouts have been drawn to his dribbling, his close control and his ability to play off either foot, with his low centre of gravity and eye for a pass through the lines prompting comparisons in the Portuguese press to Ronaldinho Gaúcho and, more recently, Lamine Yamal. He can operate through the middle or off either flank, giving Porto's coaching staff more than one way to use him once he settles in.

At Grêmio, Mec broke into the first team as a teenager and made 32 appearances in 2026, 14 of them starts, scoring three goals and setting up two more. He was a regular starter before the World Cup break, but lost his place once Luís Castro switched to a 4-1-4-1 system in the second half of the season — a shape that suited him less than the previous set-up. Castro, who coached him throughout, has described Mec as unpredictable in how he receives the ball and rotates position, but the tactical change ultimately squeezed him out of the side.

The exit comes after a difficult run in Porto Alegre. Mec was jeered by his own supporters following a defeat to Flamengo in May, despite being one of the more positive performers on the pitch that night, and he later spoke of his frustration after a poor outing in the Copa Sudamericana. That, combined with his reduced role under Castro and reported friction over stalled contract renewal talks, made a sale before his existing deal ran down more likely.

At Porto, Mec joins on a long-term contract that points to a development project rather than an instant starting berth. Scouting assessments in the Portuguese press note he still needs to add physical strength for European football and can be careless in possession under pressure, so his adaptation is likely to take time. But at 18, with genuine dribbling quality and end product already showing at senior level in Brazil, Porto see him as both a squad option now and a candidate to eventually fill the attacking role Mora left behind.

• Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

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• OFICIAL: Gabriel Mec reforça o FC Porto até 2031
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• Grêmio anuncia que aceitou proposta do FC Porto pelo extremo Gabriel Mec
• Como joga Gabriel Mec, o herdeiro de Ronaldinho Gaúcho no Grêmio
• Luís Castro explica perda de espaço de Gabriel Mec no Grêmio