Fulham and Crystal Palace share same scouting mission, defenders doing well

Premier League sides Crystal Palace and Fulham shared the same scouting mission in Portugal last Friday.

As reported by newspaper A Bola, the London clubs sent emissaries to watch Rio Ave playing Santa Clara in the Portuguese league.

The away side won 2-1 and got closer to Rio Ave in the league table, with the clubs being now in 9th and 10th positions.

A Bola doesn’t say who Crystal Palace and Fulham were watching. With Rio Ave being a club who Jorge Mendes has a big influence on, we can also expect some surprising deals to come out of them.

Some readers may remember Ruben Semedo, who used to be a promising talent at Sporting and even got linked to a few English clubs in the past.

After things didn’t work out for him in Spain, where he signed for Villarreal and ended up in prison, he’s now at Rio Ave. He scored the home side’s only goal on Friday, and ended up being the only one with a positive rating.

For the away side, defender Fabio Cardoso was the man of the match, scoring their first goal and also being important in defence.

Other clubs such as Milan, Monaco, Atalanta, Genk, Nice, Sporting Gijon, Real Sociedad, Reims, Toulouse and Hoffenheim all had scouts at this match as well.