Sunday’s edition of O Jogo stated the newspaper has been able to back up claims from England that Liverpool and Manchester City are both keen on Alan Varela.
The claims of Liverpool and Manchester City had actually initiated in Portugal more than a month ago, with other Premier League clubs, such as Newcastle United, also being linked.
Varela’s excellent performance against Arsenal in the Champions League, where he helped FC Porto get the crucial victory, has seen claims strengthen and spread further throughout the English media.
Despite that, and despite Varela absolutely being an understandable and intriguing signing for either Liverpool or Manchester City, there’s a crucial doubt to be placed over how closely they’re truly following him.
After Porto’s victory, a scouting list was published which revealed the English clubs who had been there to watch the Arsenal match.
Those clubs were Aston Villa, Manchester United and West Ham.
Now, if Liverpool and Manchester City are as keen as presented it’s odd to say the least that they didn’t watch Varela against Arsenal. There’s the possibility they got general tickets and wanted to be incognito, but that’s not usually the way either club works when scouting in Portugal.
So, an intriguing interest but there’s some reason to doubt the strength of it.
