Porto president Pinto da Costa was interviewed by TVI last night, and talked a lot about the club’s finances, which were heavily affected by the Pandemic break.
The important things he said are highlighted on the front page of newspaper O Jogo today, and it turned out he also gave some details of Alex Telles’ transfer to Manchester United.
Pinto da Costa made it clear that Porto not only sold the player because of the Red Devils’ offer, but also because the Brazil international has asked the club to let him go on the final days of the transfer window.
“I’m never satisfied when a good player goes out, I don’t remember. Look, a big sale that I was disgusted with was Hulk’s and it was a big deal. There are times when we have no other solution”, said Pinto da Costa.
“A week or two earlier, Alex’s sister, who’s the agent, expressed his desire to leave. A week before closing the market, he asked to leave because he really wanted to go to Manchester. I tried not to let him go, I tried to compensate him, even if it was to stay until the end of the year. But it’s not possible to keep a player who takes over publicly and before me and my management he wanted to leave.”
“The argument for leaving is that the current coach of Brazil only called players from three or four championships. I tried to contradict because he is currently in the national team.”
Alex Telles’ contract with Porto was going to expire next year, and he’s always made it clear he wasn’t keen on signing a new deal with the Dragons.
Manchester United are paying €15m plus bonuses for the signing.
The left-back was in action for Brazil against Peru on Tuesday, and should be soon available to make his debut with the Red Devils against Newcastle United at the weekend.
