When the Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira was spotted in Manchester this week, the first reports said he would be negotiating the transfer of Ederson to Manchester City.
The official was actually watching Pep Guardiola’s side facing Monaco for the Champions League, but there was no way the Portuguese papers wouldn’t relate his trip to some transfer business.
And today, A Bola claims there’s one more reason why he was in England. They say he was also meeting Manchester United officials to discuss the sale of the right-back Nélson Semedo to the Red Devils.
Apart from Vieira’s presence in the city, A Bola doesn’t seem to have any other convincing information why the negotiations actually took place.
The rest of the claims are something we’ve been aware for quite some time now: Benfica would want at least €40m to let him go and there’s also the competition from Chelsea and Bayern Munich for the player.
With a €60m release clause, Nelson Semedo has been very important for Benfica’s campaigns both in the Portuguese League and in the Champions League, so they certainly won’t make him any cheaper than that.
A Bola claims José Mourinho has few alternatives to Antonio Valencia, and that’s why he’d invest so heavily on another right-back. They also mention that the Portuguese boss is still interested in signing Victor Lindelof after a January transfer nearly materialised.