Pepe won't stay at Porto next season

Portuguese centre-back Pepe, 41, will not continue as a Porto player, the club's new president Andre Villas-Boas announced on Monday in an interview with the 'Now' channel: "Regarding his continuity as a Porto player, that won't happen," he said.

"We have explained to him the reasons why, unfortunately, it won't happen. However, we have the utmost respect for his career."

Even so, Villas-Boas added that the future of Pepe, whose contract ends this month, is "intimately" linked to Porto, whether "just emotionally and even from a professional point of view".

Pepe played for Porto between 2004 and 2007 before joining Real Madrid and returned in 2019, establishing himself as captain and a key member of the team. In his nine seasons with Porto, the defender won four league titles and five Portuguese Cups, among many other trophies.

The former Madrid player is currently in Germany playing his fifth European Championship with the Portuguese national team. The renewal of Pepe's contract was a pending issue for the new Porto board, whose sporting director is Andoni Zubizarreta, and had been described as "complex" by the team's next coach Vitor Bruno.