City want Pereira’s price tag dropped
PEDRO Pereira was back at Bristol City training on Monday with the rest of the squad, but a return to Failand wasn’t as unfamiliar and new to the Portuguese as it was to many of his teammates, writes James Piercy.
Pereira, pictured, has been permitted by the club to use the facility for his own personal sessions throughout the lockdown, with the 22-year-old living in a flat in central Bristol with limited access to training facilities.
The Portuguese right-back is one of four players on loan at the Robins whose long-term futures need to be decided in the next few months, potentially even before with June 30 looming.
Pereira has made 12 Championship starts this season, with a further six appearances off the bench, and has impressed as deputy to Jack Hunt.
City have an option to make his loan deal from Benfica into a permanent transfer but it will cost EUR6m (around £5.3m), a figure, which according to the latest reports in Portugal is too much.
A report in Record, via Sport Witness, states that the Robins are more willing pay EUR4m (£3.5m) and it’s a fee that Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira could end up accepting as the Portuguese giants look to raise EUR20m this summer.
Pereira has spent the last three seasons on loan, at City and Genoa in Serie A, and doesn’t appear to have much of a long-term future having not played for Benfica since the 2016/17 campaign. Head coach Lee Johnson claimed on Monday that confirming his summer transfer budget is a tricky exercise at present given the uncertainity in football in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and because the Robins are still competing for a place in the Premier League.
However, given they have first refusal on Pereira, they may well have to reach a decision soon with his loan set to end on June 30, unless they agree to make it a permanent or Benfica allow a short-term extension.
The report also claims that Benfica have other interested parties around Europe for the player, due to Pereira’s experience in both Italy and the Championship.