Porto midfielder Sergio Oliveira may not be living a great moment after being sent to the club’s reserve squad, but it doesn’t mean his name will be out of the transfer gossip.
After being highly rated by his club and the Portuguese media a few years ago, the player has been linked to Manchester City, Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Stoke City in the past. But he never really shone for the Dragons, so the noise never turned into something concrete.
Now it seems that he’s the one looking for a destination, and according to A Bola, a shortlist of clubs would be happy to take him: Southampton, AEK, PAOK and Nantes.
Oliveira has played only 54 minutes this season, which is even worse than the 18 appearances he had in the last one. It should be unlikely for Porto to ask for his €30m release clause, but with Portugal being Portugal, you never know.
The 24 year old would be something of a gamble for Southampton, but if Claude Puel could reignite the player’s early promise then it may well be one worth taking.
If the interest is genuine, then, given the player’s situation, it would be assumed Southampton have a good chance of doing a deal.
