Portugal midfielder André Gomes has signed for Spanish giants Barcelona.
Speculation had surrounded the Valencia midfielder for months about a potential move to Real Madrid, but La Liga rivals Barça announced last night through their official Twitter account that agreement has been reached to sign the 22-year-old.
Details of the deal were not released, but it has been widely reported that the fee will be in the region of €50 million and the Euro 2016 winner will put pen to paper on a five-year deal.
Gomes will be officially presented next week, and his signing resumes the tradition of Portuguese internationals donning the famous blue and red shirt, with mixed degrees of success.
Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma and Vítor Baía all struggled to make an impact at the Catalan club, in contrast to Luís Figo and Deco who won multiple trophies at the Camp Nou.
[BREAKING NEWS] Agreement with Valencia CF for André Gomes #AndreGomesFCB pic.twitter.com/n1cmdHd4ET
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 21, 2016
The move also increases the number of Portugal players at the world’s biggest clubs. In Spain alone Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Fábio Coentrão are at Real Madrid, while Tiago Mendes and Diogo Jota are also in the Spanish capital, at Atlético, while in Germany Renato Sanches and Raphael Guerreiro have signed for Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively ahead of the new season.
With media speculation continuing to link many other of Portugal’s best players with lucrative moves to top clubs abroad (João Mário, William Carvalho, Rafa Silva and Rúben Neves to name just a few), it lends weight to the feeling that the Seleção has the quality necessary to add to their Euro 2016 triumph in coming tournaments.
By Tom Kundert
