Portugal is a hotbed for Premier League scouts these days, with repeat reports of officials watching a game in the country.
This week was no different, with A Bola reporting that four teams had scouts watching Boavista vs Benfica, which the latter won 4-1 to go clear at the top of the table.
Those teams were Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Leicester, with them among a long list of scouts from teams around the world heading to the game.
Manchester United and Tottenham’s attendance is nothing new as they’re always in the country, but Chelsea and Leicester is somewhat new.
Who the pair were there to scout isn’t mentioned in the piece, although there are some safe assumptions to make.
For example, Chelsea are in need of a left-back, and Álex Grimaldo would fit in nicely in the attacking team Frank Lampard is developing.
If not him, it’s easy to imagine they were there to look at some of Benfica’s other young talent, such as Tomás Tavares and Nuno Tavares.
Leicester are similarly keen on young talent, so perhaps they were for the same reason, or just fancied taking in a game in Portugal.
If it was simply that, they would likely have been impressed by the performance of striker Carlos Vinícius, who bagged two of Benfica’s goals in the game.
