MY ACCOUNT
Pedro Porro is set to become Tottenham’s latest addition of the January transfer window.
Porro, 23, has been a key player for Sporting across the past three seasons, winning the Primeira Liga title in 2020-21.
The Spanish international had previously left his homeland in 2019 to join Manchester City, but never made a senior appearance, before settling in Portugal.
An attack-minded right wing-back, Porro has scored three times and recorded 11 assists in all competitions this term.
Ahead of Spurs’ FA Cup clash at Preston, we take a deep dive into what the defender has to offer.
Humble beginnings
City are set to reap financial benefit from Porro’s move to North London after they reportedly inserted a 30% sell-on clause as part of the permanent deal that took the full-back to Lisbon.
Pep Guardiola must have seen potential in the youngster when he paid a reported £11million to bring the teenager to Manchester from Girona, but could not provide him game time with Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker at the club.
Porro was loaned out to Real Valladolid for the 2019-20 season, where he made 15 appearances in all competitions.
The burgeoning talent came of age when he moved to Sporting on loan the following campaign, playing 30 times in Ruben Amorim’s title-winning side.
He was named in the division’s Team of the Year — alongside then team-mate Joao Palhinha, now of Fulham — and caught the eye of many admirers.
Having since made 12 Champions League appearances, including two outings against Group D opponents Tottenham this term, Antonio Conte has seen enough to bring Porro back to English shores.
A top Sport
Porro averaged 3.22 tackles and 3.45 take-ons attempted per 90 minutes in Europe’s top competition this season.
In addition, the diminutive speedster recorded 0.92 shots and 0.92 chances created per 90.
His presence will create a new threat for Premier League opposition to think about, with Porro sure to bomb forward at any opportunity.
Spurs are recruiting a talent who could become a key component of a new-look defence alongside the likes of Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie, who is set to return from his loan spell at Udinese in the summer.
Life at the Lane
Porro would provide an instant upgrade on Spurs’ current options at right-back — none of Emerson Royal, Matt Doherty or Djed Spence have made any real impact under Conte.
Royal has been the pick of the bunch for the Italian head coach in this season’s Champions League but his numbers do not compare favourably to the Spaniard’s.
Porro outranks the Brazilian when it comes to chances created and take-ons — the former has totalled four and 15 respectively, compared to the latter’s zero and two.
As well as this, the one-cap international averages over five attempted crosses per 90, compared to Royal’s 2.34.
24-year-old Royal has also only completed four of his 37 attempted crosses in the Premier League this season.
This is significant due to the reliance on wing-backs in Conte’s system.
The perfect solution
Sporting picked up four points against Tottenham in the Champions League group stage with Porro completing 90 minutes in both games.
Discussing which players stood out from those contests, ex-Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas said: “If I had to take one it would be Porro, the right wing-back, he’s different class.”
After revealing he never had a conversation with Guardiola at City, do not rule out the defender coming back to haunt his former Catalan boss under Conte.
