Porto expects Chelsea target Hulk to stay

Porto president Pinto da Costa expects Chelsea target Hulk to remain with the Portuguese club and has claimed that he will not be allowed to leave unless his release clause of 100 million euros is activated.

The 26-year-old scored in Brazil's 2-1 Olympic Games final defeat to Mexico on Saturday and has been strongly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge to replace the recently departed Didier Drogba.

Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Zenit St Petersburg are also thought to be interested, but now Da Costa has played down the possibility of the striker leaving the Estadio do Dragao.

"Hulk is a player with a buyout fee and if any club want him, they just need to pay that," da Costa is quoted as saying by Sporting Life. "He will only leave if it interests both Porto and the player.

"But so far nothing has happened to make me think we'll reach that point. Therefore, I expect that for this season he will remain a Porto player."

The player's agent, Teodoro Fonseca, however, insists that there is still a chance his client could move on in the near future.

"Hulk has a contract. He likes Porto but at the moment everything has a question mark," Fonseca told Radio Renascenca.

"We sometimes want a player to stay, but the conditions aren't the best. Everything is possible in the world of football."