Cast your mind back to last summer, and you’ll likely remember Brighton and Hove Albion being heavily linked with a move for Benfica striker Darwin Nunez.
He had just finished a campaign in which he’d scored 14 goals and registered 12 assists in 44 games in all competitions, and the Seagulls had identified him as the man to bolster their forward line.
Graham Potter’s side are in desperate need of a real presence up front, with neither Neal Maupay or Danny Welbeck the regular goalscorer they need to make the step up.
Nunez was the man they believed could fill the hole, with them having tracked him from his days in Spain, and numerous reports in Portugal made their interest clear.
They saw several bids for him rejected, the last being a €32m bid that Benfica simply thought wasn’t good enough. They wanted more and so held out in the hope the player could add more value to himself this season.
That’s something he’s definitely done, scoring 25 goals in 30 games in all competitions so far, and Benfica are delighted with themselves as a result.
Record cover the player today and how Benfica consider their €60m asking price as a ‘modest figure’ for the player, even if all signs do point to a transfer this summer.
His ‘good performances’ have raised his value exponentially, and there is a feeling that the €60m the club are demanding ‘may even be exceeded’.
That’s the figure the Portuguese giants asked for in the January transfer window, but they now consider it a ‘modest figure’ that will need to be reconsidered, given he now has suitors all over Europe.
It’s also a considerably higher sum than the €32m that Brighton offered last summer, a bid Benfica are now delighted that they rejected at the time because they’re set to pocket considerably more.
That won’t come as good news for Brighton, of course.
Several reports had indicated they would return this summer but that seems extremely unlikely now the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus are believed to be in the race and Benfica are demanding a huge sum.
They’ll presumably be looking back with a little regret and wishing they’d put slightly more on the table to convince Benfica to sell a player who has undoubtedly developed into the star of the show.
