During the month of June, Newcastle United were heavily linked to two central defenders from the Portuguese league: Ruben Semedo and Lisandro López.
Even an agreement was reported in Semedo’s case, but the player ended up moving to Villarreal, where he hasn’t been doing very well.
Then the Magpies reportedly turned their attentions to Lisandro López from Benfica, who coincidentally hasn’t been living through great form either.
Newspaper Record brought a story this weekend saying that the Eagles are looking for a new defender, since none of the players in the squad has been able to replace Victor Lindelof since his departure to Manchester United.
Lisandro López even had his chance, but wasn’t good enough to convince manager Rui Vitória, and has been sitting on the bench lately.
Record claims that the 28-year-old is ‘unsatisfied’ at the club, and even his agent Gustavo Goni has spoken about the situation: “It’s very weird what’s happening to Lisandro at Benfica. Every time he left the team was because of physical issues and never because of bad performances on the pitch. This last time he left because of flu, that’s all.”
The weird situation the agent refers to is that since this flu, Lopez has been left out of the team in Benfica’s last five games.
So if Newcastle United are still looking for a defender, it’s sounding like even a January move is increasingly likely for Lopez. Benfica were said to be demanding €10m in the summer, and with this current form, the price can’t be any higher than that.
