Speculation over Aston Villa’s interest in Sporting ace Pedro Goncalves continues to build as we’re expected to make a move to sign him this summer.
The 24-year-old is enjoying another impressive campaign with the Portuguese giants, scoring 17 goals and providing nine assists in 39 appearances across all competitions.
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Rumours have been rife for several weeks now in relation to our potential interest in signing him, and while there hasn’t been any suggestion of tangible progress in our pursuit on the face of it, the impression given is that we’re certainly giving plenty of thought to the possibility of a summer swoop.
According to A Bola, despite the €80m release clause in his current contract, there is a ‘good chance’ Villa could sign Goncalves for between €40m-€50m, with Nassef Sawiris said to be an admirer of his, which could make him a priority this summer to bolster Unai Emery’s squad.
It’s unclear how the situation would change that significantly given that release clause, as that is a hefty drop from what Sporting could potentially demand for one of their most prized assets.
That said, the report adds that Sporting are currently negotiating with the player’s former club, Famalicao, over acquiring the 50 percent player rights that they still hold which would entitle them to a share of any possible future transfer fee, and so perhaps that could be influential in how much we have to pay to prise Goncalves away this summer.
One aspect that there is no doubt over is how talented a player the Portuguese international is, and how well he would potentially fit in at Villa under Emery and help the process of implementing and further establishing his desired identity and style of play in terms of control and creativity in the final third.
With his technical quality, creative ability and eye for goal, Goncalves would be a top signing for us, but time will tell if firstly our touted interest is genuine, and if so, whether or not the two clubs can initially agree on a fee and then if Villa can successfully reach an agreement on personal terms with the player himself to convince him to make the move to join us.