Everton table two bids to sign Goncalo Borges, £2.6m separation in negotiations
Porto have rejected two late summer bids from Everton for young forward Goncalo Borges, according to O Jogo.
The Portuguese newspaper reported on Thursday (1 September, page 3) that the Blues’ opening bid for the 21-year-old was worth £8.6million before a second proposal of £10.3million was submitted.
However, it is understood that Porto have turned both down as they want £12.9million for the Portugal Under-21 international – just £2.6million more than what Everton have offered.
Borges is said to be in Sergio Conceicao’s first-team plans at Porto this season so the Portuguese giants won’t budge on their asking price for the right-winger.
O Jogo adds that Borges has a release clause in his contract worth £43.2million.
Walk away
Everton shouldn’t be splashing too much cash on signing Borges.
While the Goodison Park recruitment chiefs might rate the Portuguese youngster highly, it’s surely too hard to see how he’d perform in the Premier League given his lack of experience.
Borges will be 22 before the 2022/23 season ends and he’s only ever played twice in senior football at Porto.
One of those appearances came this season when he played as a 79th-minute substitute in a 5-1 win over Maritimo while the other was last season, also in the league.
Borges was on the bench a lot in Europe for Porto last term and probably will be again in the coming weeks and months for Porto, who clearly do have some plans for the youngster.
But those plans are surely for him to just be a back-up player and Everton shouldn’t be looking at back-up players at Porto – they should be looking at their first-team stars.
For how little experience he has and for his age, Porto are demanding too much and we’re surprised Everton have already offered as much as they have for the winger, who can play both sides of the forward line.