Bournemouth and Brighton both had scouts working in the North of Portugal last night, according to the Portuguese press.
Different reports claim the English clubs had officials watching two games: Porto against Paços Ferreira, according to O Jogo, and Braga against Rio Ave, according to A Bola.
Neither of the newspapers say who the scouts were watching, and that’s how it usually is reported by the local press. What’s interesting about this is obviously to see the Premier League sides watching two matches on the same night together.
Porto did their job and had no big problems to defeat Paços Ferreira 2-0, with goals scored by Mamadou Loum and Zé Luís. Brazilian left-back Alex Telles also had a great performance and was picked as the man of the match.
Bournemouth had scouted Porto at the start of the season, and Brighton had watched Braga.
Braga also won their game 2-0, with goals from Paulinho and Ricardo Horta. And just like in the other match, it was a Brazilian who was the best in the game. Fransérgio was responsible for running the midfield and his performance was praised by the local press.
It’s always hard who guess which players are being watched by scouts, let alone two clubs watching two games. But this seems to be a clear sign that Bournemouth and Brighton have similar plans, and could even end up competing for the same players in the future.
