As the transfer week gets going, Chelsea and Liverpool are linked to the Porto midfielder Ruben Neves once again. The interest had already been reported last week, but the story from Correio da Manhã seems a little absurd this time.
First of all, it’s well known that Porto are having financial problems. They have to sell in order to fit with Financial Fair Play, so every bid for their players is pretty welcome.
The newspaper claims that Sergio Conceição plans to give Danilo the defensive midfielder spot in the team, which means Neves should spend another season on the bench.
So what happens to the 20-year-old who hasn’t been regularly used since the 2015/16 season?
He’s sold for €40m, of course. That’s what Porto would be demanding, which is his release clause.
When A Bola first reported the interest from Chelsea and Liverpool, and later Juventus, it even seemed like a good bet to try to recover the youngster.
But like we just said, it would be a bet, so there’s no sense in paying €40m. Maybe Correio da Manhã got overexcited with A Bola’s story and assumed that English clubs would pay these figures for everyone these days.
Neves played for only 909 minutes last season, and is still to confirm all the potential he’s shown when captaining Porto at only 18 years of age.
It’s worth Chelsea and Liverpool having a look, but not at €40m.
