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| Wednesday, 18 August 2010 19:39 |
Porto looking to close Otamendi deal - reportMeireles future still uncertain FC Porto directors have travelled to Argentina in order to negotiate the transfer of Velez Sarsfield’s €7m-rated defender Nicolas Otamendi, according to reports.
Andre Villas Boas is still in the hunt for a new defender to add to his squad, following the departure of Bruno Alves to Zenit Saint-Petersburg earlier this month. Porto’s primary target for the position was Goias stopper Rafael Toloi, but that move appears to have broken down in recent days. Therefore, the Dragons have turned their attention to Otamendi, who represented Argentina in the World Cup in South Africa. Various reports in Portugal on Wednesday morning claimed that a delegation from Porto had been dispatched to Buenos Aires in order to broker a deal for the 22-year-old. “We know that FC Porto has sent people here to Argentina,” Velez vice president Miguel Calello told Maisfutebol. “For us, this is preferable because we like to negotiate directly. However, for now, I can assure you that we have not arranged a meeting. “When they arrive, we will talk. I do not want to talk about numbers. Until now, the only offer we have had came from Zaragoza, which was rejected. And the rest were indirect approaches.” Meanwhile, the future of Porto midfielder Raul Meireles continues to be in doubt after he was left out of the team’s squad for tomorrow’s clash with Genk in the Europa League. Much like Alves before his departure, Porto have made a concerted effort to reduce Meireles’ involvement with the first-team until his future is decided, one way or another, inside the next two weeks. By Sean Gillen Keep up to date with all the latest news on Portuguese football with the new PortuGOAL Twitter! |
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And you have to be a certifiable crackhead to come up with some of the theories you throw out there...
One realistic option Benfica do have is Van der Vart. We have good relations with Real and might be able to get a world class CAM for a reasonable price. It might be difficult to convince him but we do have CL football to offer.
Seeing Bruno Alves transfer to Zenit, the idea of Meireles to Benfica isn't a stretch since it could be about playing Champions League but I don't think Benfica could significantly offer him higher wages like Zenit could for Bruno.
Why would Porto sell one of their icons to their biggest rival? This isn't the same as the Joao Moutinho situation because there are offers out there for Raul unlike Moutinho where Porto was the only suitor... Porto would sell him for half price to another team in another league even if Benfica came in and offered 40 million.
one of the worst players in South africa 2010!
looool...really lol!
just to add a south american to a portuguese team!