Benfica have moved to sign Omar Bah to a new contract, with Brighton and Hove Albion sniffing around the player.
That’s according to A Bola, who say the Portuguese club have maintained a €60m release clause in his deal to ward off suitors.
The newspaper reports that the defender was the subject of ‘concrete inquiries’ last summer, with Brighton at the front of the queue for him. They ‘looked with interest’ while Galatasaray offered €13m.
Benfica treated both approaches the same and rejected them, making it clear they wouldn’t sell for less than €20m.
That meant he remained with Benfica this season and has become the 7th most used player this season in the squad, now under the orders of Bruno Lage.
Bah has been rising up the ranks for his club and is an established international for Denmark too, with 20 appearances and one assist to his name so far for them.
That and the interest in him has pushed the club to secure a new deal for him, although negotiations between his representatives and the club maintained rather than increased the €60m release clause within it.
No club is likely to need that figure to get him, so Brighton won’t be digging deep again, but there’s every chance Benfica now want more than €20m they quoted in the summer.
