Georgios Vagiannidis was close to joining a Sporting rival’s squad | OneFootball

Before heading to Sporting, Georgios Vagiannidis was very close to being coached by Francesco Farioli, the current Porto coach, at Ajax. The Lions had been eyeing the Greek international since 2024 and, although he only arrived at Alvalade last summer, the green and whites had already attempted to sign him in the winter - just like the Italian coach.

According to the newspaper A Bola, in its edition this Thursday, November 13, the Amsterdam team intended to strengthen their offensive sector and saw the then Panathinaikos player as the ideal right-back. However, the deal did not progress, as the Greeks were asking for much more than 7.5 million euros - the amount offered by the Dutch.

Thus, time passed and Vagiannidis remained on Sporting's radar. The Lions only secured his signing last summer, having shelled out 12 million euros fixed, plus 2.5 in performance bonuses. The player signed a contract until 2030 and has a clause of 80M.

For now, his journey at Alvalade has been somewhat irregular. The player started as a starter under Rui Borges, but ended up being overtaken by Iván Fresneda - nevertheless, the Greek continues to share attention with the Spaniard and is earning minutes.

This season, wearing the Sporting jersey, Georgios Vagiannidis - valued at 12 million euros - participated in 11 matches. The green and white right-back played a total of 730 minutes, during which he managed to make three assists for his teammates.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.