On Friday, ESPN reported Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Fulham and Burnley have all contacted FC Porto’s Pepê.
ESPN made no mention of who among the Premier League quartet were ahead or the 28-year-old’s preference among these.
Later that day, A Bola reported the Dragons are open to selling the winger this summer and have set a €25m asking price. They also stated he’s also ready to change clubs and may have played his last game for Porto.
Nottingham Forest are ahead in the race to sign the Brazilian and that’s at least what journalist Jorge Nicola is reporting.
With the South American expected to leave Porto this summer, a few Brazilian clubs want to bring the former Grêmio man back to the country on a loan deal.
They would find it difficult to complete the operation because the Primeira Liga club are looking for a sale and Pepê wants to stay in Europe. Nottingham Forest are among his options and Nicola claims they are in fact the attacker’s main suitor.
“Everyone wants to know if Pepê could arrive on loan, but… Porto have already set a price and won’t accept negotiating him under any circumstances other than a sale for €25m,” he said.
“The tendency is that Pepê, to the general frustration of Brazilian clubs, will go play in England. And the main interested party is Nottingham Forest, Pepê who has also recently been the target of official offers from Fenerbahçe of Turkey and Olympiacos of Greece.”
“It’s important to note that Vasco was even considered the favourite to sign the player due to the presence of Admar Lopes, the new Portuguese football executive… there is no chance of this deal going through. Just like the other Brazilians I mentioned.”
“Pepê is valued at €25m, he even received an official offer from Barcelona of €45m last season, but the deal didn’t happen and given the circumstances, including his failure to have a great season, his value has plummeted to €25m.”
Pepê was restricted to a limited role at the Club World Cup. He managed six goals and four assists from 45 games for Porto last season.
