Even though West Ham haven’t signed any player from Portuguese clubs in the past few transfer windows, we all know the club has been up for something in Portugal.
The fact that they failed to bring William Carvalho from Sporting has become public knowledge and since then the local press keeps pointing out other targets who could be of interest to the Hammers.
Now the club is back looking for transfer business in the country, because as reported by O Jogo today, they watched the League Cup match between Porto and Sporting last night, which the home team won 1-0, taking an advantage to the second leg.
It was a big surprise that William Carvalho was left out of the match. The midfielder got an injury in the game against Estoril, and couldn’t recover in time. Danilo Pereira, who had been pointed out as a plan b for West Ham, was also not fit to play.
That leaves us with Rodrigo Battaglia, who has also been reported as a target. The midfielder had an average game, getting a five out of ten rating from O Jogo.
Other players highlighted from Porto’s side were right-back Ricardo Pereira, midfielder Sérgio Oliveira and striker Tiquinho Soares, who scored the winning goal. For the away side, no big surprises: goalkeeper Rui Patrício and winger Gelson Martins getting praise as usual.
The game counted a big number of scouts, including officials from Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Montpellier, Juventus, Atalanta, Villarreal and Eibar.
