Pote has two Saudi clubs bidding for him, and Sporting is the one cashing in on the fight
Al Ittihad have entered the race for Pedro Gonçalves and are prepared to reach 30 million euros with bonuses, jumping ahead of Bruno Lage's Al Diriyah. Sporting wanted 30 million and is watching the price climb by itself.
Two weeks ago Pedro Gonçalves leaving Lisbon looked like a done deal. Now there are two Saudi clubs pulling the rope in opposite directions, and the one profiting is Sporting.
Al Diriyah, coached by Bruno Lage, had moved first and reportedly reached personal terms with the player — three years, an annual salary somewhere around ten million euros, the whole thing steered by Jorge Mendes. What was missing was the hard part: convincing Sporting, who wanted thirty million and were in no hurry to come down.
How much could Pote be worth to Sporting?
That’s where Al Ittihad walked in. The Jeddah club appear willing to go to thirty million euros including bonuses, which would land the deal on exactly the figure Alvalade asked for and wipe out the discount Al Diriyah were counting on. Translation: Sporting stopped negotiating a price and started taking bids.
For the club this is the good kind of problem. Pote spent six seasons at Alvalade, arrived as a gamble and leaves — if he leaves — as one of the squad’s most valuable assets, in a summer where the board had already put Diomande on Nottingham Forest’s radar for a comparable fee. Two big sales in one window rewrites any budget.
What changes for Sporting on the pitch?
Less than the numbers suggest, but not nothing. Losing a player with that goal and assist output means rethinking the attacking side weeks before the league kicks off, and no signing arrives with six years of the club’s habits already loaded. The upside: the window doesn’t shut until 31 August, and thirty million buys a lot of solutions.
None of this is signed, and it’s worth waiting for the official line — moves get confirmed on the Sporting CP website, not in late-afternoon rumours.
The odd twist is that Bruno Lage went back for the player he helped launch in Portugal and may end up losing him to a rival with deeper pockets. Saudi football picked up European football’s habits fast.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Mister No / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
