Brighton and Hove Albion are making another attempt to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica, and could have a deal done for €25m.
That’s according to reports in Portugal, with O Jogo and Correio da Manha’s weekend editioin giving different stories on the striker.
O Jogo reports that Brighton have made a ‘last attempt’ to sign Nunez and sent officials to Lisbon to thrash out a deal, but they were met with a firm refusal from Benfica, who don’t want to lose him.
The Liga NOS side have made it clear that they believe Nunez is a key player for them and so don’t want to lose him for anything less than €40m.
They’ve already rejected a €30m bid from Brighton in this regard, making it clear to Brighton they will only accept €40m.
Whether Brighton are willing to go to that price isn’t mentioned, but they do have the money from Ben White’s sale sitting in their pockets and desperately need a striker based on last season.
Correio da Manha, however, provide a far more positive outlook for them.
They say that, according to their information, Nunez is ‘very close’ to joining Brighton and becoming their new centre-forward for a fee of €25m.
Negotiations are reportedly ‘very close’ to being concluded between the two parties for the striker, who is currently recovering from a knee injury.
Their outlook is far more positive than O Jogo’s, although it makes little sense given Nunez cost Benfica €24m a year ago and is a key player for the Portuguese side.
On that basis we’d be inclined to believe O Jogo and that Benfica are holding out for more, although perhaps a bit of Brighton insistence, which the newspaper did say was there, has changed their mind over the last 24 hours or so.
