Towards the beginning of July, we covered a story from the Portuguese press saying that Manchester United would be interested in Benfica’s wonderkid Gelson Fernandes.
The report claimed that the Eagles had just turned down an approach from Roma, who wanted to pay €20m for him. The denial was said to be a message to the Red Devils and Juventus, who were also keen on him.
Then in early August, several big clubs went to scout Benfica’s match against Fenerbahce for the Champions League. Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Man United, Juventus and Tottenham were all present, and Gedson was pointed out as one of the targets for these clubs.
But the Lisbon side are already working on protecting the youngster, and are offering him a new contract, according to Correio da Manhã today. They want to increase the 18-year-old’s realease clause from €60m to €100m.
It’s funny that Correio da Manhã contacted a couple of anonymous agents to ask if he’s worth that much, and none of them agreed. However, we all know how Portuguese clubs work.
There are many stories about Gedson in the Portuguese media today, and none of them make it clear if there’s a special club watching him. Record is the one who recalls all those sides who scouted him in the Champions League game.
So with Man United’s and Juventus’ names being the only repeated by the local press, we can just guess their interest is the most known by Benfica’s board by now.
