Record’s front page story today talks about Benfica’s ‘mission impossible’ to keep João Félix at the club for the next season.
The Portuguese newspaper claims that the ‘siege tightens’ as big European clubs show their desire to sign the youngster in the summer.
Record says that Juventus, Manchester City and Manchester United are all in talks with agent Jorge Mendes, who’s negotiating the deal.
The three clubs have shown they can pay for Félix’s €120m release clause in case Benfica don’t accept to lower the price, and that would leave the Lisbon club with their hands tied to protect the 19-year-old.
Atletico Madrid also get a mention as they would want Félix to replace Antoine Griezmann in case of the Frenchman’s departure, but it’s not said if they would be able to trigger Félix’ release clause as well.
Record recalls two recent games when Félix impressed his pretenders. One was his hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt for the Europa League, and the other was his brace plus an assist against Marítimo last Monday.
The newspaper mentions that Manchester United had scouts on Monday (although they also did in the Europa League match), and are already in negotiations with Benfica, just like Juventus.
Regarding Manchester City, Record says the club have made ‘preliminary contacts’ to know the conditions of a deal. It’s claimed that playing under Pep Guardiola ‘pleases’ Félix, who likes the manager’s philosophy.
That claim was also made earlier this week in Portugal.
Benfica’s intention is said to be of changing his release clause from €120m to €200m, but with the ‘sharks’ circling around the player, it’s getting hard for the Lisbon side to keep him.
