Bristol Rovers offered chance to sign £2.75m West Ham man for free

Bristol Rovers trialist Goncalo Cardoso has terminated his contract with Maritimo.

Cardoso featured in a pre-season friendly defeat to Champions League hopefuls S.C Braga in July and trained with them for the week at their training camp.

The 22-year-old is now a free agent and is available to Joey Barton now should he want to sign him. Cardoso was once worth £2.75m after being bought by West Ham from Boavista.

In a statement published on Maritimo’s website, it translated to: “Marítimo da Madeira – Futebol, SAD – informs that it reached an agreement with the athlete Gonçalo Cardoso for the termination of the contract that bound him to the institution.

“Marítimo praises the exemplary professionalism of Gonçalo Cardoso and wishes the player all the best.”

A move to the Memorial Stadium may seem unlikely though given the recent arrivals of Tristan Crama and Connor Taylor. He did not come to the United Kingdom for Rovers’ remaining pre-season friendlies with Swansea City and Chesterfield.

He does however represent an option to Barton should he remain interested in signing a left-sided centre-back to replace Lewis Gibson. Barton has preferred a back three but also reverts to a back four and now his defensive options are growing in depth.

Rovers started the campaign with a flat back four with a centre-back partnership of James Connolly and James Wilson. Lewis Gordon who at times has played left-sided centre-back and Luca Hoole - who played as a right-sided centre-back were played as full-backs in the first half.