Aston Villa had an official in Portugal on Thursday evening to watch Porto take on Roma in the Europa League.
That’s according to O Jogo and Record, who report that Aston Villa were one of several English teams to send a scout to watch the game.
They were there alongside Arsenal, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and Hellas Verona according to the newspaper. Scouts from Portuguese clubs were also in attendance for the European fixture.
There is no mention of whom they were there to watch on this occasion, just that they had people in attendance to watch the game.
Those scouts saw a 1-1 draw between the two teams, with Zeki Celik’s opener in added time in the first half cancelled out by Francisco Moyra in the 67th minute.
He was the standout performer in the game according to Who Scored, who handed him a 7.3 rating. Roma’s goal scorer, Celik, was handed a 7.2 and was their top performer according to the website.
Beyond that, there were not may standout showings from either team, with Nehuen Perez the next highest rated with a 7.2 for Porto followed by Goncalo Borges on a 7.0. Gianluca Mancini earned the same score for the away side.
We’d be surprised if Aston Villa were there to watch either of those players or indeed Moura or Celik, but they had someone in attendance to watch the game nonetheless as their transfer planning for the summer gets underway.
