Porto midfielder Danilo Pereira is a subject of a big story in today’s edition of O Jogo. The player, despite picking up a knock in the big game against Sporting last weekend, did everything he could to stay on the pitch during the win and his attitude was much praised by the club and its fans.
Another aspect highlighted by the paper is the long time that Arsenal have been reportedly following him.
O Jogo claims that club scouts have been watching Danilo since last season, and had an official at the Estádio do Dragão again this weekend.
An interesting slant is that they say that Arsenal’s scout in Portugal is still Luís Boa Morte, who has just took charge of the third-division side Sintrense but seems to be still working for the Gunners. That, perhaps, doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
According to O Jogo, Boa Morte keeps delivering Arsene Wenger good reports about Danilo’s performances.
The outlet even used an interview from December 2015 when the scout said: “I’ve already known Danilo since he was 15 or 16 years old. It doesn’t surprise me what he’s been done and how he’s been evolving.
“I follow him since he played for Benfica. He’s imposed himself at Marítimo and now at FC Porto.
“He’s been showing his quality and has been growing game after game. He’s been having an impressive evolution.”
Danilo has recently renewed his contract with Porto. His new deal runs until 2022, and his release clause was raised from €40m to €60m.
Even though Arsenal have been linked to the player for a while now, it’s always seemed to be interest rather than any kind of intention of acting upon interest.
