Manchester City could be set to lose out on a profit after a recently departed player appears to have piqued the interest of Real Madrid.
Defender, Pedro Porro, has completed his anticipated move to Sporting CP for a pre-agreed fee, believed to be around €8.5m (£7.2m), signing a three-year deal after impressing in the Portuguese capital. Sporting Lisbon activated the pre-agreed clause in the loan agreement last week.
The right-back played a significant role in their title success last season and his marauding runs and attacking features down the right flank earned him a place in the Primeira Liga Team of the Year.
The Taça da Liga was the only highlight this season as they finished runner up to Porto in the league and City’s 5-0 victory in Lisbon was enough to eliminate the team at the Round of 16 stage.
Porro still impressed with his performances and has attracted the interest of Europe’s elite with the Champions League finalists set to match his new release clause of €45m to bring him back to his homeland.
There is a possibility that City may utilise a buy-back option of half that amount, reported to be around €20m (£16.9m), to sell him on for a profit. An unlikely move from Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano given that Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo are above him in the right-back slots and the profit will only equate to around €10-15million.
Firstly, as detailed by the Real Champs, Madrid will have to sell players before they launch a bid for the new Spanish international. They have given ultimatums to Marcos Asensio and Dani Ceballos to sign new contracts or be sold, with these contracts giving the hierarchy more wage manoeuvres to sign new players.
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He has never played for the Premier League champions after signing from sister club, Girona, before moving to Real Valladolid and then onto Ruben Amorin’s team for their title-winning season. He has since made his international debut winning his part in his 2-1 victory over Georgia last March and achieving his only cap to date for the 22-year-old.
He raised eyebrows prior to the Champions League fixture against his parent club when he questioned whether Pep Guardiola knew of his ties to the club before the manager quipped back knowing for well that he was City registered at the time.
Those eyebrows continue to be raised on the Iberian Peninsula after newspapers have linked himself in a love triangle with Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix and his current partner.
Those rumours were quickly denied by all parties with Porro saying “My image is not going to be stained by anything and less by things like these. I can do whatever I want. Stop staining the image of the three because it is not like that.”
A potential recipe that could make the Madrid derby extra spicy next season should his move to Madrid be complete, leaving City to lose out on a potential profit.