Santos hoping to hold onto Danilo

Santos hope Porto’s failure to keep up with payments for Alex Sandro will help them hold onto Danilo until June 2012.

The two full-backs both agreed moves to Portugal after the conclusion of the Copa Libertadores, with Sandro moving immediately and Danilo agreeing to stay in the club until the end of 2011.

According to club president Luiz Alvaro Ribeiro, however, the Liga Sagres champions have fallen behind on payments for their former player; and he hopes to convince them into delaying Danilo’s move as a form of compensation.

“It is true that we have had problems receiving the instalments from the sale of Alex Sandro,” Ribeiro said.

“At the very least Porto are behind, so we will try to arrange for Danilo to stay until June.”

Danilo, 20, has been a fixture in the Santos team since moving from America MG in 2010, and has also appeared twice for the Brazil national side.

He agreed a transfer worth 17.8 million euros to Porto, signing a five-year contract scheduled to begin in 2012.