West Brom boss Pulis ponders £30million Carvalho swoop

The Baggies boss travelled to Portugal recently to watch the Euro 2016 winner play for Sporting Lisbon in their 1-1 draw with Benfica.

Albion tried to sign Carvalho on deadline day last summer but decided to pull out of the deal when Sporting upped the price towards £30million.

The 25-year-old is expected to command a similar fee this summer and though Pulis is a fan, he’s not convinced it is worth spending that much on a midfielder when there are other areas of the squad which also need addressing.

“That’s why I was up at 4am in the morning and travelling out there and watching it myself,” he said. “You’ve got to believe your own eyes. You listen to so many people’s opinions and views on things that sometimes you don’t get a clear perspective. It’s really nice to watch games yourself.”

Pulis also watched Porto’s goalless draw with Feirense the next day, and while he was impressed by the technical standard of the Portuguese sides, he had questions marks over their ability to hack the physical demands of the Premier League.

“It was a good opportunity to see two very good teams, Benfica and Sporting, and go down and see Porto the next day,” said Pulis. “It was a tiring trip in some respects but it was good. It was good to see the standard of Portuguese football, they’re the best three teams over there.

“It was good to have a look at the pace of the game. They’re technically very good players, but the pace isn’t what it is in England.

“The physicality and everything else that makes this league such a great league is lacking a little bit, but there’s some very good technical players over there.”

However, Carvalho is a hulking box-to-box midfielder and Pulis holds no reservation about his ability to adapt to English football.

“Carvalho is a giant, he is a big lad,” said Pulis. “I enjoyed both games, obviously the Lisbon derby was a wonderful occasion and Porto, it’s the first time I’ve been to the new ground and it was a really good team.”