Everton were one of the numerous sides with a scout in attendance for Porto’s clash with Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
Manchester United, Everton, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town were among the Premier League clubs to send scouts to the Estádio do Dragão.
European visits
But there was no shortage of representatives from other leagues as well. Indeed, 18 foreign clubs including Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta and PSV Eindhoven were among those in attendance.
Even Saudi club NEOM sent a scout to watch the game, although it is not clear who the various clubs were there to watch.
It’s unlikely that Everton and the Premier League sides were there to watch Manchester City – who ran out 2-0 winners thanks to Erling Haaland’s double. Although perhaps the man from Everton was there to watch Iliman Ndiaye and remember the good times. He came off the bench.
Fullbacks or striker?
Given Everton’s need for full-backs then Martim Fernandes and Alberto Costa may have been on the list at Porto. But neither of those had particularly strong games, receiving scores of 6.0 and 6.2 from Who Scored.
If a striker was on their list then, assuming they’re not chasing Haaland, the focus would have been on Andre Silva. But he too scored a lowly 6.2 and made very little impact either.
Indeed Porto’s best performers were Jakub Kiwior and Gabri Veiga, who both received 6.5 scores on the night. But it seems unlikely that Everton were there to scout a central defender or a central midfielder given the obvious needs in David Moyes squad.
Wednesday’s print edition of a goes with different ratings.
Martim Fernandes gets a 6, Alberto Costa 7, Andre Silva 4, Jakub Kiwior 4 and Gabri Veiga 6. Goalkeeper Diogo Costa was their man of the match with 8.
It’s a game of opinions!
