Stefan Borson drops ‘massive’ verdict after Man City deal agreed
Manchester City believe Palmeiras sensation Vitor Reis has “massive” potential after agreeing a deal to sign the defender this month.
That is the view of former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider he believes incoming sporting director Hugo Viana is likely to be behind the deal for the 19-year-old.
Viana is set to join Man City from Sporting Lisbon in the summer as he replaces the outgoing Txiki Begiristain at the Etihad.
The Premier League champions are looking to be active in the current transfer window following their disappointing first half of the campaign.
Fabrizio Romano reported on 13 January Man City have reached a verbal agreement with Palmeiras to sign Reis, with the deal understood to be worth less than £34million.
The centre-back has made 22 appearances in total for the Brazilian side after breaking into the first team last season.
Man City want to sign Vitor Reis immediately after on-field issues
Borson suggested signing Reis is the kind of deal Viana would typically have done for Sporting before agreeing to join Man City.
“People are trying to get ahead of the curve,” Borson told Football Insider.
“I have got no basis for this, but City’s new sporting director is Hugo Viana from Sporting.
“He’s not yet joined, but he is in Manchester at the moment with the current sporting director Txiki Begiristain.
“It seems to me that kind of deal feels like something that maybe Sporting might have historically have done.
“They might have paid half the fee that City are going to have to pay for a player they would have brought over to Portugal first, bedded him in, and then sold him onto the Premier League.
“I think what City are probably thinking on that deal is here’s a player with great potential, we will bring him in now. We will obviously have to pay what is quite a big fee, but the fees now, particularly for young players, are such a range.
“How you value a player that’s never played in Europe at that sort of number is hard to understand from the outside. But clearly, they think he’s got massive potential, so we will see.
“It feels like that player would have ended up in Portugal ordinarily, but City’s position means they need to try and bring him in now.”
In other news, Jack Grealish sends message to James McAtee after Man City humiliation.
For more Man City and exclusive news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.