Benfica’s Tomás Araújo was limited to 737 minutes of action from last season and Crystal Palace wanted to offer him an escape route in the summer window.
The London club made a €30m bid for the defender in August, but it was turned down by Benfica.
On November 13th, Correio da Manhã pointed out Crystal Palace’s failed summer efforts and insisted they still want to sign him.
The latest claims in the UK have talked about Crystal Palace and Newcastle United are among the centre-back’s interested parties from England. O Jogo have relayed that and then give their own take on this case.
Benfica appointed Bruno Lage as Roger Schmidt’s successor in September and Araújo has enjoyed regular minutes under the former. He clocked in 1,073 minutes from 12 games this season and his performances helped him make debut for Portugal earlier this month.
Amid claims of interest from Crystal Palace and others, Benfica have no plans to let the player leave in the winter market, unless there’s an ‘irrefutable’ offer. He has a €100m release clause and Benfica are most likely to demand this figure to sanction a sale.
Unless Crystal Palace offer €100m, which seems highly unlikely, they won’t be able to sign Araújo in January because of Benfica’s tough stance.
