Porto’s Ricardo Pereira could leave the Primeira Liga for the Premier League with Everton allegedly interested.
FC Porto are chasing their first league title since 2013 this season and are one point behind reigning champions Benfica with a game in hand as it stands. And Ricardo has been a key cog in Sergio Conceicao’s revitalised side, scoring twice and setting up three more in 23 Primeira Liga starts.
But the versatile defender – who can play on the right or left of defence and also on the wing – could be the latest rising star to graduate from the esteemed Porto finishing school this summer.
Reports in O Jogo claimed that Tottenham watched Ricardo in action last week after failing with a £13.2 million bid last summer after the three-time Portuguese international returned to his parent club following an impressive loan spell at Nice in France.
And A Bola have now thrown Everton into the equation.
It is understood that they, along with Juventus, Valencia and Premier League rivals Arsenal, are all interested in signing Ricardo this summer and they would not have to break the bank.
He has just one year left on his Porto contract and a release clause of £18 million; a fee that Everton’s big-spending majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri would have little trouble in providing.
Everton do have one of the league’s best right-backs in Seamus Coleman, but there is little experienced back-up with Jonjoe Kenny earning mixed reviews for his displays in the first half of the campaign.
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