Tottenham Hotspur are preparing a bid to bring Pedro Porro to the Premier League in the January transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by Portuguese publication Correio da Manhã (via Sport Witness), who claim that Fabio Paratici is now ‘preparing to formalise’ an offer for the Sporting Lisbon right-back, with the bid set to ‘be around’ the 23-year-old’s minimum fee release clause – which is currently set at €45m (£38.7m).
The report goes on to state that Spurs’ interest in a move for the Spain international is ‘making people talk’ in Portugal, not least because Manchester City – whom Sporting paid €8.5m (£7.3m) to sign the defender permanently this summer – are said to possess a 30% sell-on clause, thus pocketing a large portion of Tottenham’s potential offer.
“Special”
Considering just how impressive Porro has been for Sporting in recent seasons, it is not difficult to understand why Paratici would be interested in a move for the right-back this winter – especially with it being recently reported that Antonio Conte is willing to part with one of Matt Doherty or Emerson Royal in January.
Indeed, over his 23 Liga Portugal appearances last term, the £21.5m-rated full-back highly impressed going forwards, bagging four goals, providing four assists and creating 11 big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.6 shots, making 2.0 key passes and completing 1.4 dribbles – at a success rate of 53% – per game.
The £10k-per-week talent also caught the eye in metrics more typically associated with his position, making an average of 1.8 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, one clearance and winning 5.3 duels – at a success rate of 53% – per fixture.
These returns saw the 23-year-old who Zach Lowry dubbed “special” average a quite breathtaking Sofascore match rating of 7.28, not only ranking him as Sporting’s second-best performer in the division but also as the 12th-best player in the Portuguese top-flight as a whole last time out.
It has been a similar story over the youngster’s 10 league outings this season, with Porro having already registered four assists and created four big chances, as well as making an average of 2.2 key passes, 1.6 crosses, 1.4 interceptions and completing 1.1 dribbles – at a success rate of 46% – per game.
These metrics have seen the former City starlet average an extremely impressive Sofascore match rating of 7.11, currently ranking him as Rúben Amorim’s fifth-best player in Liga Portugal.
As such, it is indeed easy to see why both Paratici and Conte would be keen on a deal to bring the right-back to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of the second half of the Premier League campaign, as Porro would undoubtedly represent a special addition to the Italian manager’s current options on the right of his backline in north London.