As Portuguese newspaper Record today features a story on Sporting star Pedro Gonçalves, they show that the Lions are protecting themselves ahead of a potential summer sale.
The midfielder has been linked to a couple of Premier League sides lately, with Aston Villa being the reason for the strongest rumours of a departure.
Record explain that since Sporting only own 50% of Gonçalves’ rights, they’re now advancing to buy another 40% from Famalicão, leaving his former club with only 10%.
That will require an investment worth around €8m, but can actually give the Lions an immediate result in case the player gets sold in the coming months.
At the weekend, we saw newspaper A Bola claiming there’s ‘insistence’ from Aston Villa for his signing, as Unai Emery’s side already ‘advanced with approaches’ for the move.
Sporting have Pote protected by a €80m release clause, and that’s why Record writes that they are ‘calm’ about his situation in the summer.
The Lions are selling Manuel Ugarte for €60m, and that only makes it more likely that Pote’s clause would also need to be triggered for him to go. That’s something Aston Villa and other interested clubs must have in mind.
