Nuno Lobo, a former presidential candidate at Porto, has become the latest to criticise the deal to take Fabio Vieira to Arsenal.
The 22-year-old will become Mikel Arteta’s first major signing of the season after the Portuguese giants confirmed a £34m sale relatively out of the blue, with the midfielder himself vowing “only to work, work, work”.
A key player for Porto as they reclaimed the title from Sporting Lisbon, the Portugal U21 international scored 6 goals and registered 14 assists in 27 Liga appearances.
Last week, another former presidential candidate in the shape of Fernando Rio went as far as to suggest the fact Porto accepted a fee lower than Vieira’s release clause - believed to be around €50m (roughly £42.3m) - could have an impact on the future of manager Sergio Conceicao.
Now, as the deal draws even closer, Lobo told Bola Branca that he did not “understand” the decision to sell Vieira for the fee in question, believing the idea of him leaving for so little was both “ridiculous” and “unbelievable”.
“He is one of the best players at FC Porto and leaving for this fee is a bad deal,” said Lobo, who came third in the 2020 presidential elections.
“We are talking about one of the gems of FC Porto, one of the players who came from our academy. The DNA of FC Porto.
“We lost him. It’s another piece of business that I don’t understand.
“We are talking about ridiculous values for players who represent and are FC Porto.
“They are from our academy and we are letting them go for unbelievable fees.”
