Porto have been slammed for the decision to sell Fabio Vieira to Arsenal as the midfielder edges towards sealing a move to north London.
The Portuguese playmaker is set to become the Gunners’ second addition of the summer window following the prior arrival of Brazilian youngster Marquinhos from Sao Paulo. The north London side are set to seal his services in a £38m deal, with it being expected that he will commit to a five-year contract at the Emirates Stadium.
Whilst his arrival is an exciting prospect for Mikel Arteta - the Spaniard finally being able to add some much-needed creativity to the squad - it appears that not everyone has been left enamoured by the deal.
Former candidate for the FC Porto presidency José Fernando Rio has hit out at the club’s decision to let Vieira go for less than the €50m (£42.9m) release clause reportedly written into his contract at the Estadio do Dragao despite current president Pinto da Costa having previously announced his intention to only let players go should those conditions be met.
Speaking to Portuguese outlet Record, Fernando Rio said: “The financial administrator had already announced the need to realise between €70-100m in capital gains this year, and I was already waiting for the bleeding to start.
“Obviously, we have to discount the intermediation costs. At Porto, we never know they are high or low, but normally they are quite high.
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“President Pinto da Costa has been filling his mouth with numbers, saying that Porto has a situation that allows players to be negotiated only through the release clause, and we see that this is not true.”
Meanwhile, Fernando Rio has also suggested that the decision to allow Vieira to join Arsenal could even lead to the resignation of current boss Sérgio Conceiçao. He continued: “I imagine that Sérgio Conceiçao is very angry at this point.
“He also made public that now Porto is outside UEFA’s remit, they could invest more in the team’s competitiveness; they are starting to see the main players leave. This may have some bearing on his desire to stay or leave the club.”
From an Arsenal perspective though, they will be delighted at having secured the signing of Vieira for a lower fee than expected. Their summer spending is not expected to end there though.
Their acquisition of the Porto star is not expected to impact their attempts to sign Leicester City star Youri Tielemans, with the Belgian still seen perceived as a priority signing. Meanwhile, recent reports have suggested that the north Londoners are interested in Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez with Arteta keen on bolstering his defensive options ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.
