One of the big tasks for Manchester City this summer was finding a long-term replacement for midfielder Fernandinho.
The Brazilian is key to how City play under Pep Guardiola but at 33-years-old, time is running out on his future at the top of the game.
City elected to go out and spend the money to find a replacement, deciding that Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodri was the ideal signing and moving decisively to sign him up.
The Spaniard has since impressed at the Etihad, but it seems Manchester City are continuing to look to the future regardless and that’s led them to Benfica.
They report that Pep Guardiola instructed his scouts to follow the 20-year-old carefully, with City now scouting him at Benfica games regularly.
The newspaper says that City CEO Ferran Soriano met with Luis Filipe Vieira and Jorge Mendes at a hotel in London during the summer and Florentino was a name that was part of the conversation.
This led to Benfica rushing to get the youngster signed to a new long-term deal, which includes a €120m release clause, which we covered at the time.
Indeed, City’s interest has been there for some time now, and this latest report suggests their attention is not going to decrease in the coming months.
