Newcastle United and Manchester United scouts spotted in Portugal amid transfer rumours

Newcastle United were represented at one of Portugal’s biggest games on Saturday night - according to reports.

Two of the Primeira Liga’s giants went head-to-head at the Estadio do Dragao as Porto faced Sporting in a game watched by a whole host of Europe’s biggest clubs.

It was Porto that took the honours with a 3-0 win - although their visitors played a big role in their own downfall by conceding two penalties and being reduced to ten men with 15 minutes remaining.

Porto took the lead three minutes before half-time with a goal from Evanilson and their hopes were further boosted when Sporting’s Pedro Porro was shown a red card with quarter of an hour remaining.

Mateus Uribe doubled Porto’s lead from the penalty spot three minutes later and Galeno settled the contest with a second spot-kick four minutes from time.

A report in Portuguese outlet A Bola has revealed the likes of Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich were all represented in the stands - and listed Newcastle as another club to have an official watching on.

It is not clear who the Magpies were watching but they have been linked with Sporting defender Goncalo Inacio and Porto duo Pepe and Diogo Costa over the last six month.

The summer signings of Sven Botman and Nick Pope mean centre-back Inacio were unlikely to be on their radar - but attacking midfielder Pepe did feature before being replaced by Gabriel Veron in the closing-stages of the contest.

Brazilian outlet Globo Esporte reported United had a £27million offer for Pepe rejected by Porto earlier this summer and suggested only a fee of £52million would persuade the Portuguese giants to part company with the Brazil Under-23 international.

That followed on from reports in O Jogo suggesting the Magpies have made ‘numerous observations’ at Porto games over the second half of last season.