Manchester United are the English club which scouts most in Portugal, and it’s been that case for some time. It was the situation before Jose Mourinho and it’s ramped up under the Portuguese manager.
Sometimes the scouting seems a little over the top. It makes sense for the Premier League club to watch Sporting, Benfica and Porto, yet some of the lower league trips are often curious.
If Mourinho’s club are the English side most present, then we’d say the Spanish side to match that is Atletico Madrid. They would the club to finally sign Nico Gaitan, although that went wrong, and their wonderful goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, also came from Benfica.
On Friday evening, both clubs had officials at the match between Braga and Boavista, report O Jogo, it’s a reasonable level match outside of the big three.
The game ended 1-1, and Boavista goalkeeper Vagner da Silva was the Man of the Match, but he’s 31 years of age so unlikely to be of interest to either side.
The Red Devils and Rojiblancos are unlikely to find a player who can walk straight into their first team, but the Portuguese transfer plans of both clubs are repeatedly apparent.
