Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Pedro Porro to the Premier League in the January transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to Fabrizio Romano, with the Italian transfer insider revealing in a recent video on his YouTube channel that, following a number of reports linking Antonio Conte with a move for the Sporting Lisbon right-back in the winter, Spurs are indeed keen to tie up a deal for the 23-year-old this month.
Regarding the Premier League club’s interest in the Spain international, Romano said: “Today we had an update on Tottenham’s situation… we know they are looking for a right-back, and I am told that Pedro Porro, playing for Sporting, a really good player, is their top priority at right-back.
“Tottenham appreciate the player, Tottenham love the player, they consider him perfect for Antonio Conte’s football, but there is an important point about Sporting. When Sporting’s manager, Ruben Amorim, signed a new contract with the club a few months ago, I’m told in that meeting, Sporting told him no big players would leave in January.
“But there is also a point that Pedro Porro has a release clause in his contract of €45m (£40m). He joined from Manchester City in the summer and Man City have a buy-back clause of €25m (£22m). So, for Man City, it’s a very good opportunity but at the moment they are not looking for that kind of signing in January.”
“Perfect”
Considering just how exciting a prospect Porro has very much proven himself to be since his move to Portugal, it is not difficult to understand why Conte would be interested in a deal to bring the 23-year-old to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this winter.
Indeed, over his 23 Liga Portugal appearances last season, the £22m-rated talent was in exceptional attacking form, scoring four goals, registering four assists and creating 11 big chances for his team-mates, also taking 1.6 shots, making two key passes and completing 1.4 dribbles per game.
The full-back also caught the eye in metrics more typical of his position, making 1.8 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and one clearance and winning 5.3 duels – at a success rate of 53% – per game.
These returns saw the Spaniard average a sensational Sofascore match rating of 7.28, not only ranking him as Sporting’s second-best performer in the league but also as the 12th-best player in the Portuguese top flight as a whole.
It has been a similar story for Porro over his 11 league outings so far this season. The £10k-per-week defender has already scored one goal, provided five assists and created six big chances for his team-mates, in addition to taking 2.6 shots, making 2.2 key passes and completing one dribble per match.
These metrics have seen the 23-year-old average an equally impressive Sofascore match rating of 7.21, currently ranking him as Amorim’s fourth-best performer in the league and the joint 18th-best player in Liga Portugal as a whole.
As such, should Fabio Paratici manage to get a January deal over the line for the player who Zach Lowy dubbed “special”, it would indeed appear as if the Tottenham sporting director would have landed a perfect player for the right of Conte’s back five in north London. That leads us to believe that Spurs simply must activate Porro’s release clause this month.