Romanian International Cristian Săpunaru is going to leave FC Porto in this transfer window according to his agent.
The 27-year-old was the first-choice right back last term under Andre Villas-Boas and appeared in nearly 40 games during the quadruple winning campaign. But with the arrival of Vitor Pereira he has found himself on the bench and clearly out of favour at the helm.
Pereira has opted to rotate between Maicon and Jorge Fucile this season leaving Săpunaru with only 9 games to his name. In addition, space is to become even more limited as Danilo has finally made his switch from Brazil to Portugal.
The highly rated Brazilian is deemed as one of the most talented youngsters in the game and is expected to mould into a top-quality right-back for the Portistas in a couple of years. The club are keen to ensure that he lives up to his potential and are willing to afford him more first-team opportunities at the expense of current players.
While the coach could have chosen to drop Maicon or Jorge Fucile down the pecking order, he has instead opted to decrease Săpunaru’s game time, as Fucile offers more versatility than his Romanian counterpart and is comfortable on either wing.
Maicon also seems to have overtaken the former Naţional Bucureşti for a place in the line-up and due to his current status, the player has been linked with others teams this winter.
A return to his homeland seems to be on the cards and the player’s agent has confirmed that his client is on his way out of FC Porto and should make the switch to a new club by the end of the transfer window.
Speaking to reporters, the representative said that the defender would have stayed in Liga Sagres if the situation had been different but he did not approve of the current scenario, in which he was only picking up his pay-check and not playing much.
“At this point, he will not be playing for FC Porto and is only thinking of changing his team. If things had been different, he would have of course preferred to stay. Săpunaru is one of those players who always want to play and does not want to wait for his salary on the bench.”
He also added that did not know why the wingback was not being utilized by Vitor Pereira but said that Sapunaru was willing to look the other way and move on to another side.
“I do not know why he is not playing, but he’s fine. He told me to find a new club for him,” Florin Marea was quoted as saying.
While Cristian Săpunaru is set to seek greener pastures in the transfer window, he can reflect back on a great time at FC Porto, in which he won nearly 9 trophies and played against some of Europe’s best.
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