Arsenal are said to be pretty well placed in the chase for the Benfica attacker Gonçalo Guedes. According to Record on Friday, club president Luis Filipe Vieira is currently in London to negotiate the player’s sale, alongside his agent Jorge Mendes
The newspaper says Arsenal ‘gained strength’ in the past few days, mostly because they reckon Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is set to move to Manchester City.
The negotiations are now set to ‘gain significant advances’ in the next days. Vieira is really meaning business in this trip, leaving Lisbon after cancelling his presence at a club event.
Manchester United, PSG and Monaco are said to be the other clubs in the race. Record make it clear that the talks happening in London don’t necessarily mean the player is going to the Premier League.
The story really lacks information on Arsenal’s interest, the price or where the negotiations stand. We’re always skeptical when speaking of Portuguese young talents, because they’re frequently linked to expensive moves that never happen.
The 20-year-old has a €60m release clause, something that Benfica will certainly push for during the negotiations. The player, who can work both as a right-winger or a second striker, has seven goals and seven assists this season.
Arsene Wenger isn’t too fond of Mendes, but has this wouldn’t stop an Arsenal move for one of the agent’s players. This, however, seems more like Benfica being keen to raise some funds, rather than anything else.
Earlier in the window Benfica had hoped to sell Victor Lindelof to Manchester United, and then Luis Filipe Vieira travelled to China to see if he could sell a player there, and now he’s in London with Arsenal one of the club president’s aims.
We wish him luck trying to convince Arsene Wenger, he’ll need it. Maybe some magic too.
