Reports from Portugal deny that FC Porto midfielder Danilo Pereira will be available for €20m this summer, after recent links to Arsenal.

Reports from ESPN this week suggested Arsenal are tracking Danilo Pereira ahead of a summer move, and FC Porto could sell him for as little as €20m. The player has a release clause of €60m, but ESPN claimed the Portuguese side were willing to sell for less.

The Portuguese media are seemingly denying the claim, however. The print edition of Jornal de Noticias reports that their sources ‘couldn’t verify’ the €20m figure. In fact, they add that Porto turned down a €30m bid just last summer.

A lot can change in a year. For a start, Danilo has a year less left on his contract to 2022 and he’s a year older, so there are two good reasons for his price to go down.

Then there’s Porto’s financial situation. There aren’t many clubs out there with bags of cash to spare following the coronavirus shutdown. The average cost of players is sure to go down this summer.

Nonetheless, if reporters from Portugal think claims of a €20m valuation are wide of the mark, it’s worth taking notice.