Arsenal have been handed a major boost in their pursuit of Andre Silva, with Porto likely to sell their star striker in the summer
Portuguese outlet A Bola have reported that Porto will have to offload some of their star players in order to prevent a financial crisis at Estadio do Dragao. On top of the list of departing players is star striker, Andre Silva, who has been heavily linked with Arsenal in recent months.
Silva is rated one of the most promising youngsters, not only in Portugal but in all of Europe. The Portuguese forward joined Porto’s youth ranks as a 16-year-old before making rapid strides to make the cut in the senior side in 2015.
Ever since then, Silva has made impressive progress while developing his game immensely. He is slowly turning into an all-round striker, adding superb passing abilities to complement his clever change of pace, technical skills and fantastic finishing ability.
2016/17 can rightly be termed as his breakthrough season, with Silva becoming one of the key figures for both Porto and his national side. He has bagged 18 goals and 7 assists in 33 appearances in all competitions for Porto, and also made his debut for the national side last year before scoring 4 in 5 games.
His stellar performances for Porto have not gone unnoticed and some of the biggest clubs have scouted Silva in recent months. These include Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid, but Arsenal have looked the closest to signing him while the others seem to have cooled off their interest lately.
The North London club are in an uncertain situation regarding the future of Alexis Sanchez, with the Chilean currently embroiled in a contract standoff with the Gunners. With little clarity on his position at the club, Arsenal are starting to scout his possible replacements, with Silva one of their top targets.
And while Arsene Wenger already has the likes of Olivier Giroud, Danny Welbeck and Lucas Perez to call upon at the Emirates Stadium, none of these players have the confidence of the Arsenal boss to lead the line consistently.
Silva’s recent goal scoring record, meanwhile, speaks for itself, and the striker is only going to develop further in the seasons to come. That makes him an exciting prospect for Wenger to buy, and Porto’s decision to sell Silva in the summer will give them a lot of motivation to make a move for him.
The report could, though, see some of Silva’s previous suitors rekindle their interest in him, and Arsenal could be primed for competition come June. One thing is known though. The club that signs him will have to cough up at least €60 million to acquire Silva in the summer.
