Brentford and Ipswich Town have been back at Porto, and this time they watched the Portuguese side give Napoli a convincing beating.
Both clubs sent scouts to the Estádio do Dragão on Wednesday evening, where Porto ran out 4-1 winners in the Champions League.
It’s becoming quite a habit. This was Ipswich’s fourth known visit to the stadium this season, while Brentford have now been there at least three times.
And with the January transfer window getting closer, those repeated trips are becoming harder to ignore.
Brentford and Ipswich among European heavyweights
Portuguese newspaper A Bola reports that 14 clubs had representatives at the Dragão on Wednesday, including 12 from abroad.
Brentford and Ipswich were joined by Newcastle, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, PSV Eindhoven and several others.
The two English clubs have been following Porto closely for a while. They were both present for the Champions League defeat to Manchester City in September. A few weeks later, they returned for Porto’s 3-1 victory over Benfica.
Now they’ve been spotted together again. It certainly looks like Porto have become a regular stop on their scouting schedule.
A Bola doesn’t identify the players either club went to watch, but Wednesday’s match provided plenty of interesting options.
Gabri Veiga and Kiwior steal the show
Gabri Veiga was probably the most eye-catching name on the pitch. The Spanish midfielder had already impressed when Brentford and Ipswich watched Porto beat Benfica in September. He scored that evening, and he was even better against Napoli.
This time Veiga provided the corner for Jan Bednarek’s opening goal after just 11 minutes. He then rattled the crossbar with a shot from distance before putting Porto back in front. A clever pass from Santiago Giménez sent him through, and he finished past Alex Meret.
It was a real MOTM performance. But Jakub Kiwior also gave the visiting scouts something to think about.
The former Arsenal defender played the full match, helped contain Napoli’s attack and scored Porto’s third goal with a header.
Kiwior is obviously no stranger to English football, so Brentford and Ipswich should already know plenty about him.
Another familiar face from their previous scouting trips was Martim Fernandes. The young Portuguese full-back started against Napoli and played 67 minutes before Francesco Farioli replaced him with Zaidu Sanusi.
He had a solid evening defensively, dealing well with Matteo Politano down his flank. It was another useful opportunity to assess him against Champions League opposition.
Plenty of other options on the pitch
Alberto Costa was another Porto player worth considering. The right-back completed the full 90 minutes and caused Napoli problems with his attacking runs.
There were interesting names on the Italian side too. Billy Gilmour, who previously played for Chelsea and Brighton, started in midfield and completed the match.
Then there’s Giovane, the 22-year-old Brazilian forward who joined Napoli from Hellas Verona earlier this year. He came on for Antonio Vergara in the 79th minute, so his opportunity to impress was fairly limited.
Of course, none of these players have been identified as targets for Brentford or Ipswich. They’re possibilities based on who was on the pitch, nothing more. What we do know is that both clubs keep turning up at the Dragão.
Whether they’re following one particular player or keeping tabs on several options, it’s a fair amount of homework for two clubs with January recruitment decisions approaching.
