When the news of Sporting Lisbon’s starting XI filtered through ahead of last week’s UEFA Europa League last-32 clash with Midtjylland, former Portugal international Jorge Amaral would skimmed over the team sheet with a smile on his face.
In the build up to the game, Amaral had urged Sporting coach Ruben Amorim to return Pedro ‘Pote’ Goncalves to a more attacking position, having utilised the 24-year-old as a central midfielder in recent weeks.
“In his first year at Sporting, he always played in a more advanced position,” Amaral told Bola Branca. “And that is, in my opinion, the position he should play.”
Pote lined up on the left-hand side of a three-man frontline on Thursday night. He duly scored twice as Sporting hammered Midtjylland 4-0 to set up a last-16 meeting with Arsenal; Amoral’s pre-game comments justified with a pair of typically emphatic finishes.
Pedro ‘Pote’ Goncalves may be the ‘new Bruno Fernandes’
According to Record, Aston Villa have been watching Pote like a hawk this season. Unai Emery wants more attacking thrust in his side, no one except the in-form Ollie Watkins and the departed Danny Ings managing more than four Premier League goals this term.
And it’s testament to the sky-high standards Pote has set at Sporting that – despite netting 16 in all competitions – Amaral still expects more from a man who’s prolific goalscoring record from attacking midfield has seen him labelled the second-coming of former Los Leoes talisman Bruno Fernandes.
Pote, capped twice by Portugal, has 54 in just 112 games at the Lisbon giants. And Rob Edwards, his former youth coach at Wolverhampton Wanderers, was right when he predicted that Pote would go on to have a ‘phenomenal career’.
“He’s an absolute diamond,” Edwards tells Sky Sports. “He is a brilliant young man. Wow, he is doing great. I am so proud of him and so pleased for him.”
“What he has gone on to do since, all credit to him. He’s worked really hard for it and he deserves everything that he gets. He has the right attitude. He is brave.”
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“Someone like Pedro who is technically brilliant, really gifted, a mistake will not faze him. The biggest thing when you are working with top talents is that you never need to motivate them. They do it every day.
“He will have a phenomenal career.”
Could a former Wolves player end up at Aston Villa?
It’s unlikely Edwards had Aston Villa in mind when discussing the heights Pote could hit post-Molineux. The Chaves-born playmaker spent just two years at Wolves between 2017 and 2019; moving to Famalicao after failing to make a single first-team appearance in Old Gold.
In the four years since then, Pote has forced his way into the Portugal set-up, helped Sporting pick up there first league title in 20 years, and signed a new, long-term deal with a £70 million release clause, all the while catching the eye of Wolves’ Midland neighbours.
Considering that goals are frequently in short supply at Molineux, letting Pote go is a decision that continues to rankle with many supporters. But at least, at Sporting, Pote is out of sight and, thereby, relatively out of mind.
You could not say the same if Pote returns to England with a club based just 16 miles south east of Molineux.
In other news, AC Milan director issues crushing Liverpool & Tottenham transfer blow
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