When Portuguese newspaper A Bola reported Leicester City’s deal with Porto for Ricardo Pereira yesterday, the claims seemed pretty solid.
With the Foxes following the player for a while now, there was no reason not to believe they would get him early in the transfer season in a €20m deal.
That’s why when we saw the news, we even ignored other claims from other newspapers on the same morning saying there was a €22m bid still in Porto’s hands.
So today, we expected some developments from the local media, maybe with a few more details on how the deal was done and when the move will be made official.
But there’s nothing. Not even from A Bola, as they don’t have a single update on the situation.
There are two newspapers who have a few words on Pereira’s future. Diário De Notícias is one of them. As they analyse some players who will go to the World Cup, they recall that Leicester City are ‘very interested’ and he could make the move before the tournament.
Outlet O Jogo has a story about Vitória Guimarães, saying the club still own a percentage of the player and should get a few million in case he’s sold this summer. That’s all.
There’s only one outlet confirming the bid, and it’s not a newspaper. Website Mais Futebol says that there’s an offer of almost €28m on the table, and Porto are still to say yes, although things look optimistic. They claim that Leicester City should be Ricardo Pereira’s destination unless some European giant come up with a late offer.
There may be no reason to worry. Similar has happened before, for example when Ruben Neves left Porto last summer, and A Bola may feel they’ve got nothing to add now they’ve said it’s agreed.
