Benfica manager Bruno Lage has refused to be drawn on rumours linking his side with a move for Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Nelson Semedo.
A Bola cover comments from the Benfica manager today amid consistent reports around the Wolves man.
Semedo’s current contract at Molineux expires in the summer and Benfica are eyeing up a free transfer, with it making front page news in Portugal yesterday.
That was followed by another claim today that the transfer was advancing, and director talks were on te way, with optimism the deal would happen eventually.
That’s led to Lage being asked about them directly in his press conference today, but the former Wolves boss refused to fuel those rumours and instead insisted that the player is focused on his current club.
“Regarding Nelson, I believe that at the moment he’s going to be supporting Wolverhampton and whether or not he’ll be reinforced, that’s for next season,” he said, when asked if the player will be supporting Benfica against Barcelona this week.
“And right now my focus is on what we can do tomorrow and really understanding what we’re going to do until the end of the season.
“We’re currently in the last 16 of the Champions League, the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup, we’re depending on ourselves to win the league and we’ve already won a title and our focus is on trying to win more titles by the end of this season.”
What happens to Semedo remains to be seen, with the 31-year-old likely to have plenty of offers on the table if he is available on a free transfer.
He may consider a return to Benfica as coming too soon at this point, although the ties there are strong given, he spent five years with them and made 65 appearances for the first team before his move to Barcelona in 2017.
Lage certainly won’t be fuelling the rumours either way, with his focus clearly elsewhere and not on adding to the already growing reports.
