Southampton, Manchester United, Tottenham, and Wolves are the four Premier League teams rumored to have sent scouts to a game against Porto last night.
Scouts from Southampton and three other Premier League teams will be attending this week’s Portuguese Cup match.
Portuguese daily A Bola reports that Saints sent scouts to Porto’s Taca de Portugal semi-final second leg matchup against Sporting Club de Portugal last night (Thursday), joining the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham, and Wolves.
Southampton is not the only team that has allegedly sent scouts to Portugal; before this season, Saints sent personnel to games against Porto and Benfica.
Although it is unclear from the report who Southampton was scouting at the game, it is likely that they were sent to watch a specific player because they were also present at Porto’s Champions League match against Atletico Madrid, along with representatives from Leicester City and Wolves.
Sporting was defeated 1-0 by Porto, who advanced to the finals by winning 3-1 on aggregate. Toni Martinez, a substitute, scored for the home team in the 82nd minute.
Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic, who signed for the Portuguese team last year after spending several seasons with Liverpool and having loan stints at Cardiff, was one player in the Porto squad last night who has previously been linked to Southampton.
After spending last season on loan at Wolves, Vitinha has been a standout player for Porto this year. Mehdi Taremi, an Iranian striker, has also been linked to a move away from the club after making an outstanding 22 goals this season. They both got the game underway.
Both Fabio Vieira and Evanilson, who started the game, have been connected to English Premier League teams; Vieira’s possible suitors include Manchester United, Tottenham, and Liverpool.
However, Manchester United and Wolves have also sent scouts to other Porto games this season, so Southampton are not the only team to have visited the Portuguese team on many occasions.
