Sunderland and Newcastle Untied both had officials watch Benfica versus Dinamo Kiev on Tuesday night, and Portuguese newspaper A Bola say they both had someone at FC Porto versus Club Brugge on Wednesday night.
Setting their shopping sights high by scouting Champions League clubs, both sides seem to have the intention of trying to pick up a Portugal based player. That’s not going to be easy, both Porto and Benfica buy low and sell very high, and both are successful and regularly in the Champions league, a pull for players.
As we pointed out on Wednesday, Sunderland have previously been linked to Benfica’s Eduardo Salvio, who scored against Dinamo Kiev, but he’s surely not going to want to join them unless this season sees a huge turnaround.
Sunderland’s scouting of Portuguese matches increased under Sam Allardyce, and hasn’t stopped since the manager left to take the England job.
Newcastle don’t send officials window shopping to Portugal as often as Sunderland, and of course their target level also depends on the way the season goes from here on in.
As it stands, surely neither club could attract anything more than a Porto or Benfica fringe player.
