It’s not really a secret the amount of transfer rumours that come from Portugal every week. Most of the players linked are usually from Benfica, and those links are often to English clubs.
And as the Lisbon side are playing Manchester United tomorrow, newspaper Record is getting carried by listing all the players who could be watched at Old Trafford by interested clubs.
Andreas Samaris is one of them. The player was first said to be wanted by Sunderland, and then by Newcastle United, although neither managed to get close to a deal being done.
Record claims negotiations with Sunderland only failed because of the club’s relegation to the Championship last season.
Meanwhile, they take claims from the English press to say that Newcastle offered €20m for Samaris, but the deal still couldn’t happen.
However, as covered by us at the time, the Portuguese papers were claiming the Magpies didn’t want to pay €20m, which was Benfica’s asking price, so they stayed a few million short.
In any case, even if the North East clubs want to watch him at Old Trafford, it won’t be likely. Record claims that Samaris is the one with ‘least chances’ to play from the transfer target list. So if Sunderland or Newcastle are still interested, they will probably need a trip to Portugal.
And as he hasn’t been used much, the hidden message there is that his price is likely to go down very soon.
Record clearly just wanted to bring together as many Benfica transfer rumours as possible, and Samaris to Newcastle or Sunderland is as good as any.
