Porto's Pinto da Costa: I would not trade Hulk for Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo

Porto president Pinto da Costa has guaranteed that he will not part with the club's most influential players, stating that he would not switch Hulk for Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo

Several of Porto's players have been linked with a summer transfer after an impressive season in which the club won the Portuguese League, the Portuguese Cup and the Europa League.

Hulk, Radamel Falcao, Alvaro Pereira, Joao Moutinho and Rolando are amongst the players who have been most vociferously linked with the exit door.

Da Costa, however, has indicated the club will not sell any player for less than the release clause listed in their respective contracts, going as far as to say that he would not accept a swap between Hulk, who is valued at €100 million (£87m), and Real Madrid's Portuguese ace.

"It may sound like a heresy, but I would not trade Hulk for Cristiano Ronaldo. It is my opinion, perhaps the coach will say different," he told Porto Canal.

"If we consider Ronaldo's price, we can consider that it is possible that someone pays €100m for Hulk."

The Porto supremo stated that he thinks Falcao will not leave the club and laughed off suggestions the Colombian could join Atletico Madrid, who are on the lookout for a new striker following the departure of Sergio Aguero to Manchester City.

"If any club were to pay for him, they would have done it already," he explained. "But there are not many clubs who spend that kind of money on one player: there is Real Madrid when they want it, Barcelona after they discuss it a lot, Chelsea, now Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

"When I read about Atletico Madrid's interest, I can only laugh."

Pinto da Costa also expressed his suspicions regarding Benfica's €8.6m (£7.5m) sale of goalkeeper Roberto to Zaragoza, saying: "Those are bulls**t millions, ours are real millions."





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