Chelsea and Liverpool set to miss out on South American youngster – Player only costing €8m

Chelsea and Liverpool are about to see Gianluca Prestianni sign for Benfica, according to reports from Portugal.

Newspaper O Jogo today writes that the Eagles have a deal with Velez Sarsfield to get the youngster signed for just €8m.

Prestianni is still 17, so the clubs are waiting for the end of January, when he turns 18, to make the transfer official.

O Jogo highlights that Benfica won the competition from many ‘sharks’ from European football. That includes the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Ajax, who are all said to have made ‘enquiries and approaches’.

A reason why the Eagles are excited about this deal is the transfer from Enzo Fernandez last year. At the time, they only spent around €10m to sign him from River Plate, and months later, they saw him leaving to Chelsea for around €120m.

Therefore, in case Prestianni is soon seen standing out with the Eagles and we get to see Chelsea and Liverpool getting linked to him, we shall recall the missed opportunity that Blues and Reds had to take him straight from South America in January 2024.

Despite being still underage, the wonderkid already has 39 appearances for Velez Sarsfield, and is also part of Argentina’s youth ranks.