On Friday Everton had someone watch the match between Pacos de Ferreira and Vitoria Guimaraes. The club ‘spy’ was there assessing talent ahead of the summer transfer window.
Ronald Koeman may be able to pick up a bargain from such a club, but the targets wouldn’t be the most exciting for Everton fans, but Saturday brought some more encouraging news.
It was an important match, giving scouts a chance to watch Porto and Sporting players against some of the stronger opposition in the Portuguese league. Along with Everton, Record reports that clubs including Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, Manchester United and Arsenal had someone there.
When at Southampton, Koeman built up the club’s Portuguese scouting network, leading to the signing of Cedric Soares, and he’s doing the same with Everton.
Yacine Brahimi, linked strongly with Everton during the summer, didn’t have a great game for Porto. His teammate Iker Casillas was one of the better performers on the pitch. Gelson Martins put in a good performance for Sporting.