With scouts from Premier League clubs now back at working in Portuguese League games, we see that Southampton are one of the sides joining the party.
According to newspaper A Bola, the Saints sent emissaries for the match between Porto and Paços Fereira on Saturday.
The newspaper doesn’t say if the English side had any specific targets for this match, and although the St. Mary’s club were used to have scouting trips to Portugal, it had been a while since they were last spotted at the Dragão.
The Saints had already been at Benfica’s Champions League clash against Barcelona last week, and seem to have stayed in Portugal to look at other clubs.
Now with Porto putting in a good performance in the 2-1 win, there were certainly a few talents to be seen.
Left-back Wendell and striker Luis Diaz, who scored the Dragons’ goals, both had their performances praised by the local media.
Another one who did well was Vitinha, who spent the last season on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and created several chances for the home side.
For Paços Ferreira, we can’t ignore the performances from goalkeeper André Ferreira, who saved them from a larger defeat, and attacking midfielder Nuno Santos, who scored a big goal.
Southampton have actually been linked to a Porto player in the past, which is Sérgio Oliveira, with the interest reported a few years ago.
Last night, he was only brought on with 15 minutes to the end of the game, and did well in balancing his team’s midfield to guarantee the win.
