90min’s Graeme Bailey has claimed that from speaking to ‘sources’, Sporting Lisbon would be ‘looking to sell’ Tottenham Hotspur target Pedro Porro.
The Lowdown: Preparing to reach agreement
The Times has reported that the Premier League side and Sporting are preparing to reach an agreement on Porro before the window shuts this month.
According to the same outlet, the right-back has a release clause of £40m, which is what Antonio Conte’s side will have to pay if they are to land the player.
Porro has six assists and two goals in Portugal’s top flight so far this season in 14 league appearances.
The Latest: Sporting hierarchy want Porro sold
Bailey addressed the current situation surrounding the transfer of Porro on the Talking Transfers podcast, claiming that people he’d spoken to in Portugal have said that the club want him sold due to Manchester City having a buy-back clause on him.
He stated: “Porro is a player they’ve liked all window.
“As we said before, there is people within Sporting’s hierarchy who want to take this deal.
“To mortgage about €37m plus a player, we don’t know who that is – I think basically they’ve got the pick of a few Tottenham reserves.
“A point that was raised to me by a Portuguese source this morning, was I think the Sporting hierarchy are looking to sell now, because if Porro’s progress continues, he’s only going to get better and better, but Manchester City have a buy-back of just €20m on this player. And that is the worry.
“If he continues his progress at the pace he is now, that €45m might not be worth the paper it’s written on.”
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The Verdict: A significant improvement
We believe that Porro would be a huge boost to Conte’s options in the right wing-back position and definitely improve them.
The Sporting star has been labelled as ‘electrifying’ in the past and his stats certainly justify that kind of praise.
Within competitions of a similar level, Porro ranks in the top 1% of shot-creating actions, non-penalty goals scored and assists in the last 365 days per 90 minutes, as well as many other attacking statistics.
This would be a vast improvement on Emerson Royal, who albeit while playing in the Premier League (deemed a level higher by FBref), ranks in the top 66% for shot-creating actions, in the top 27% for non-penalty goals scored and the top 77% for assists across the same time period.
Although FBref considers the Portuguese top flight as a tier down from the Premier League, it could easily be argued that given Porro is literally at the top of his game at Sporting, he is ready to make the step up and excel.
Therefore, we think Conte would be getting an attacking-minded wing-back who’s a real nightmare for opposition defenders as Porro is constantly creating, scoring and assisting this season.