Nani is awesome, but he was lucky because he joined Man United. Simão and Quaresma were just as talented but they never got their chance at Barcelona.
the midfield is still very strong, even after Figo and Rui Costa, what with Cristiano Ronaldo, Simão Sabrosa, Nani, Deco and João Moutinho (Sporting Lisbon). that prick Quaresma is only good with his club FC Porto, though.
As for Manuel Fernandes, when he starts playing alongside Miguel Veloso (son of former Benfica captain António Veloso, keep your eyes on him, he's going places) the midfield will be rock-solid.
talk about Fernandes and Veloso, it's good to see we're finally getting solid center-midfielders (as opposed to just ofensive or defensive midfielders), like Carrick and Steven Gerrard.
all we need now is for Sporting Lisbon to finally train a decent striker at their academy, because for all their world-class midfielders they are yet to give us a striker, damn them.
