Tottenham are set to sign Sporting CP defender Pedro Porro on transfer deadline day.
football.london understands that the wing-back will join Tottenham on a loan deal until the end of the season, with the club having an obligation to buy the player. It is understood that the full deal, which was initially thought to be a permanent one but later changed to a loan deal, is expected to be worth around €45m (£39.5m).
With the Spanish defender set to join the club, defenders Matt Doherty and Djed Spence are expected to leave Spurs on deadline day, with Doherty in talks with Atletico Madrid and Spence set to complete a loan move to Rennes.
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So, if Spurs were to bring Porro to north London this month, what impact could the Spaniard have? We simulated the rest of the season to try and find out.
We 'signed' Pedro Porro as Tottenham January transfer
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2023 to arrange for the Sporting defender to join Spurs before the January transfer deadline, using FM23 to run the simulation. As well as signing Porro, we also updated the squad with the latest injuries and transfers.
Porro was thrown straight into Conte's setup at Spurs, with the Spaniard becoming Spurs' first-choice right wing-back. On his debut, he won the Player of the Match award and assisted the winning goal in a 1-0 win over Manchester City, and he went on to make 19 appearances for Spurs in all competitions throughout the remainder of the season. What a start!
Combining his Champions League appearances with Sporting, Porro made 24 appearances in total, with 18 of them starting for Spurs, and one appearance also came off the bench. In his games for Spurs, the defender scored once and assisted five, a fantastic return in such a short period.
The defender also improved Spurs defensively, with Conte's side conceding half the number of league goals they conceded in the first half of the season. For the Lilywhites, the 23-year-old averaged a rating of 7.09 per game, the best rating of any Spurs defender.
Porro also managed more assists than any other defender at Spurs, whilst his combined goals and assists (6) were only matched by Ivan Perisic, though the Croatian played plenty more games than the Spaniard. His rating of 7.09 was much higher than Emerson's 6.82, showing the drastic improvement made for Spurs.
Spurs' results from the 2022/23 simulation
Spurs went through a rough patch between March and April that saw them drop off the top four, but a strong end to the season saw Conte's side challenge in the final few games of the season. Unfortunately, it proved too little too late, and Spurs ended the season in fifth place.
After 38 games, Spurs tallied 69 points, 10 more than Chelsea in sixth, but just two less than United in fourth. Conte's side had the sixth-best defensive record in the league, but they also improved in attack after Porro's arrival, with only Arsenal and Man City outscoring the Lilywhites.
Spurs went on a good run in the Champions League and reached the semi-finals of the competition, but after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Conte's side fell to a 4-1 defeat in the second leg to Inter Milan, with Porro receiving a red card in a miserable game. Spurs were also knocked out of the FA Cup in the fifth round, losing 3-1 to Liverpool in the fifth round.
Overall, the FM23 simulation predicts that Porro could be a fantastic signing for Spurs, with the Spaniard's attacking input the best out of all the Spurs defenders, despite being at the club for only six months. Conte's side improved after his arrival, but not enough to claim a spot in the top four as they finished fifth in the Premier League.
Do you think Pedro Porro would be a good fit for Spurs? Let us know in the comments!
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