In January 2017, we saw several English clubs being linked to Porto midfielder Sérgio Oliveira. The 25-year-old, who wasn’t getting many minutes at his club at the time, was seen as an easy target for Premier League sides, even though no one managed to sign him in the end.
The likes of Southampton, Crystal Palace and Stoke City all got linked to him, as even a €4m bid from the St. Mary’s side was reported at the time.
Now things have changed a lot this season. Porto are having a great league campaign which will probably give them the title, and Oliveira managed to become a frequent starter for the Dragons.
And when writing a story about him this weekend, newspaper Record claims that Oliveira said ‘no’ to a Championship side in the last January market.
We took a look at the Championship clubs who were linked to him last year, and there was only one: Sunderland AFC.
The Black Cats were said to be joining Southampton in the race for the midfielder at some stage at the end of the last season, but their disappointing campaign which led them to relegation probably couldn’t help the situation.
Now in case Sunderland are still interested, and made him an offer in the January window, the scenario was actually worse. Portuguese players may have been attracted to the Championship clubs lately, but with the club now being close to a new relegation, it’s hard to think of a player leaving Porto for that.
Or maybe there’s a new Championship side trying to get Oliveira, something we shall see in the summer.
