For a while now, there have been reports that both Newcastle United and Burnley are after a new left-back.
His name is Nuno Tavares, currently at Benfica, and as tends to happen when it comes to Portuguese sides fully aware they have a talent on their hands, a big asking price is made public.
In the case of the 21-year-old, that figure is €30m, as Napoli are also in the race to acquire his services, having now overtaken Newcastle and Burnley.
The information comes from O Jogo on Tuesday, with it pointed out that while the Clarets and the Magpies are ‘also eyeing the player’, it’s the Neapolitans ‘who are most determined to sign him’.
Benfica are said to have pointed ‘to an unachievable bar of €30m’, but that won’t stop Napoli from making their move, with the newspaper adding those in charge at the Liga NOS side ‘will soon be confronted with a proposal’ from their Serie A counterparts.
This decision to bring forward a bid ‘was only taken very recently’ after the transfer gurus in the south of Italy ‘analysed all the names on the table’.
The €30m asking price is currently ‘considered unattainable’ in the midst of a pandemic, but they ‘trust that a lower and more valuable proposal can convince Benfica and surpass the English sides of Burnley and Newcastle’, both said to be following Tavares ‘very carefully’.
The issue with the Premier League duo is that they are currently both still in a fight to stay in the top-tier, ‘so they have not yet made decisions that involve large investments’.
Not an ideal situation to be in for either Steve Bruce or Sean Dyche, and we’ll have to wait and see how juicy this upcoming proposal from Napoli is, but if it’s good, Newcastle and Burnley will have a big decision to make.
