Despite the rumours saying West Brom were leading the race for André Horta on Thursday, newspaper A Bola comes up with a story today saying the player’s future is still far from decided.
It’s stated that West Brom frequently send scouts to Lisbon, and are really interested in the midfielder on a loan basis, but explain it won’t be very easy to land him.
The first issue is that despite big competition in midfield, manager Rui Vitória still counts on Horta for the 2017/18 squad.
And in case the player leaves on loan, Benfica would rather keep him at a Portuguese side, since he would have more chances to play.
However, West Brom are lucky that one of the interested sides were Marítimo, who gave up on the signing.
But despite Benfica’s wishes, a Premier League move would be more positive for the youngster. A Bola points out he would have the chance to earn a bigger salary in England, as well as a more interesting challenge.
As Benfica don’t seem to have interest in selling him permanently, the Premier League doesn’t seem so attractive as in other cases. But maybe if West Brom can convince them the player will have some regular playing time, it would be enough to get a deal done.
