Alasdair Gold has revealed that Fabio Paratici is a fan of Sporting Lisbon’s Pedro Porro but the right-back might not be a perfect fit for Antonio Conte’s system.
Spurs are expected to prioritise strengthening at right wing-back in January (90 min), with reports over recent weeks stating that Porro is one of the names on the North London club’s radar.
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Portuguese publication Correio da Manha (10/12/22 via Sport Witness) even claimed last week that Antonio Conte’s men are ‘preparing to formalise’ an offer for the 23-year-old, who impressed in the Champions League group stage clashes against Tottenham earlier this season.
However, Fabrizio Romano revealed to CaughtOffside a few days ago that Manchester City hold the upper hand in the race for Porro as they inserted a buy-back clause of €20m (£17.2m) in the player’s contract during his switch to Lisbon.
Gold has now confirmed that the Spaniard has been on Tottenham’s radar for a long time but questioned whether Conte would be in favour of his signing.
The journalist said on his YouTube channel about Porro: “He’s been on Spurs’ list for a little while and there’s some indication that Paratici quite likes him as well. Where the doubts lie is whether he’s a Conte signing. Physically does he fit the mould of a Conte wing-back?
“Look at the players he often has at wing-back, they’re often tall, able to put in crosses from the other wing-back, pacy, strong. Porro has a lot of qualities but whether he is a physical fit for a Conte wing-back.
“With Porro he is a talented player, but I think they have to see whether those doubts over being a physical fit will be too much to make a move or not.”
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Porro is certainly not the biggest physically but the Spaniard is very good in one vs one situations and is a good crosser of the ball, which would make him a good fit for Conte’s statement.
However, Gold’s point about Porro’s lack of physical stature is a fair one as Conte, throughout his career, has tended to prefer wing-backs who are tall and strong. That is one of the reasons why the Spurs boss might prefer Denzel Dumfries instead of the Sporting man.
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