Roma right-back Bruno Peres has revealed that both Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur tried to sign him during the last summer window.
In an interview with Goal’s reporter Bruno Andrade, the player gave many details of his move from Torino to Roma a few months ago.
Asked about the other options he had, Peres said: “There were a lot of things, some concrete offers… There was Manchester City, Tottenham, Atletico Madrid, Milan. They were interested but found resistance from the president of Torino, who is a very complicated guy.
“Soon after, Rome showed up, a club that had shown an interest in my signing in the previous window. A great club, structured, with a lot of history, where you could continue growing your career without having to make a new radical change of life.”
Peres insists he didn’t join Roma rather than Tottenham or Manchester City because of money: “No, no… there were more financially advantageous offers, higher bids. But money is not always everything. At that moment the money was not so important.
“I could have gone to another country, but with the chance of not playing, not adapting and still taking the risk of being forgotten. I chose Roma and made the best decision.”
Peres was, indeed, much linked to a Manchester City move during the summer, but not so much Tottenham. Reports from Italy constantly mentioned Pep Guardiola’s interest in signing the Brazilian right-back, even though talks or bids were never really claimed by the papers.
The player joined Roma in a €1m loan deal. The move will be made permanent at the end of the season, when the Giallorossi will pay €12.5m more.
Despite not having left Santos as a big player, Peres’ career in Italy turned out to be quite interesting. His good performances for Roma have been resulting in comparisons with players such as Cafu and Maicon.
Tottenham interest is hard to believe, with the options available to Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs, but Manchester City may well have looked at a loan try-before-you-buy deal.
