By Craig Scott

24th Jun, 2022 | 8:10am

Leeds United table £25.7m bid to sign Otavio as Porto star makes decision on future

Leeds United are set to be snubbed by Porto winger Otavio despite tabling a £25.7million bid to sign the Portugal international, according to Journal de Noticias.

The Portuguese newspaper reported via their print edition on Friday (24 June, page 40) that while a “source close to” the 27-year-old says he himself hasn’t received an offer to leave Porto, even if he did, he’d only quit the Portuguese giants to join a “great European club”.

It is understood that Otavio doesn’t see Leeds as a club who’ll match his ambitions of winning silverware and playing regularly in the Champions League.

Journal de Noticias adds that Otavio has a £51.5million release clause in his contract at Porto and he’s happy to stay at Estadio do Dragao.

No point trying

If Porto want Leeds to match Otavio’s release clause in order to sell him, then it’s not worth pursuing him.

And it makes it even less worth Leeds’ time if the Brazil-born Portugal international doesn’t even want to leave Porto and join a club like the Whites.

You can understand why.

We were almost relegated from the Premier League in May and Otavio is a player who regularly competes for silverware and plays in the Champions League at Porto.

In the 2021/22 season, the right-winger played 49 times in all competitions for Porto, scoring five goals and supplying 14 assists.

He played in the group stages of the Champions League and the knock-out rounds of the Europa League while he’s also going to be gunning for a spot at the World Cup in the Portugal squad.

Will he risk that by moving to a team that could be in a relegation battle in the upcoming 2022/23 season? Probably not.

Otavio is expensive and not interested so there’s no point in pursuing him.

In other Leeds United news, the Whites are more likely to sign this big-name player than one of the Premier League’s top-four clubs.