Portuguese newspaper Record are like a dog with a bone, or like Benfica with a player they want to sell. As Sport Witness have been covering in recent days, Benfica have been proactively trying to sell players.
The club’s president Luís Filipe Vieira first travelled to China to see if cash could be raised there, but he had no luck in getting a Chinese club to pay an inflated amount for a Benfica squad player.
Then, naturally, and again, Vieira travelled to London to seek out deals in England. Manchester United fans may well know that it’s been reported Vieira was in London earlier in the transfer window, when he was claimed to be finalising a deal for Victor Lindelof.
This happens near enough every single transfer window.
On January 20th, Record reported that Vieira’s trip would see Guedes pushed to interested clubs, with it being suggested at the time Benfica would push for the player’s €60m release clause. Manchester United, PSG and Monaco were in the ‘race’, with Arsenal stated to have ‘gained strength’ in the pursuit.
On Sunday January 22nd Record now believe the price Guedes will go for is €30m. Earlier on in the day it was explained that whilst Guedes was in the match-day-squad, there were 20 players called up so 2 would miss out entirely, and the suggestion was the 20 year old would be one of those.
It was claimed the battle now was between Manchester United and PSG to secure a deal.
A few hours later and with Guedes not involved, Record now state the player is ‘really’ leaving Benfica, with either Manchester United or PSG his destination.
As we keep repeating, this looks very much like Benfica trying to sell Guedes, rather Manchester United putting up a genuine effort. It will take all the persuasive skills of Jorge Mendes to convince Jose Mourinho on this one.
