West Bromwich Albion were one of the many clubs who sent scouts to watch Paços de Ferreira and Sporting in the Portuguese league this weekend.
The report is made by local newspaper O Jogo, who doesn’t seem to know who the Baggies were specifically keeping an eye on.
Sporting had a comfortable 2-1 away win, and continue hunting Porto at the top of the table, as only two points separate them from the Northern rivals.
West Brom will have seen that Sporting had two players making the difference, and that’s one in defence and another in attack. Former Barcelona centre-back Jérémy Mathieu was able to keep the team safe for the entire game, while Gelson Martins had another great performance, scoring the team’s second goal.
For the home side, striker Mabil was the one who really impressed, constantly offering danger to Sporting, with three dangerous shots, one of them on the post.
Target keeps doing well
West Brom aren’t used to watching Portuguese league games, this season at least, but there was a player involved in yesterday’s match who’s frequently linked to the club: William Carvalho.
The midfielder had a solid performance as always, keeping the team’s balance and being called their ‘GPS’ by local newspapers.
Constantly involved in transfer rumours, William is reportedly in the process of renewing his deal at Sporting, meaning his release clause could be increased to €60m. That should make things quite difficult for West Brom to land him.