In Portugal, it’s customary for clubs to name which clubs had scouts at their games, and someone from Arsenal was present in Portugal once again on Tuesday.
The Gunners have had scouts at Porto games recently, supposedly watching midfielder Ruben Neves, but in midweek there was a scout from Arsenal at Benfica’s game against Atlético Madrid.
There had already been an Arsenal scout at another Benfica game in the last week or two, and O Jogo (per Sport Witness) have guessed that the Gunners had sent someone to watch winger Goncalo Guedes, who only played a half in the game.
Highly-rated player Nico Gaitan signed a new contract at Benfica this week, so he clearly isn’t the player who was being watched but Benfica did interestingly have 18-year-old Renato Sanches at the base of their midfield. Usually lining up for the reserve team in Lisbon, the midfielder has recently broken into the senior setup.
On the other hand, perhaps someone from Atlético was being watched? Antoine Griezmann is the star name who would probably impress most Arsenal fans, but Luciano Vietto impressed on a rare start after his summer move from Villarreal, scoring his first Champions League goal.
Then again, maybe Arsenal just had someone there for a totally innocent reason, sent with little brief. Either team could have won the group and been potential opponents in the round of 16 (Arsenal could be drawn against Atlético Madrid on Monday), alternatively a scout could have been there to see if any players caught the eye.
Ultimately we don’t know, but it may be of interest that Arsenal – yet again – are scouting teams in Portugal.