On March 17th, Portuguese newspaper Record kicked off a Diogo Gonçalves to Leeds United transfer rumour.
It seemed they’d taken inspiration from Andrea Radrizzani’s comments about potentially emulating Wolves in the transfer market, and therefore Gonçalves was stated a ‘priority’ signing for Leeds.
The reasoning was the youngster is finding it hard to break into Benfica’s team, and is often even out of the match-day squad. At 21 years of age he could probably do with a loan if things aren’t going to change, so if Leeds are following the Wolves route then a swoop is conceivable, as long as they could secure a reasonable buying option.
This weekend A Bola, another Portuguese newspaper, had a small article saying Gonçalves had been ‘sacrificed and resurrected’ at Benfica. Despite sounding so dramatic, the story was simply that he’d initially been out of Benfica’s squad to face Vitoria Setubal, but ended up back in when Jonas felt pain during the warm-up.
It was largely irrelevant as again the youngster didn’t get a minute on the pitch. Gonçalves now hasn’t had any minutes since February, and that month he only got 21 combined over two matches.
Out of the squad for three of the last five league games, Leeds United’s chances of signing Gonçalves look to be growing, if their claimed interest is genuine.
