Benfica’s Raul Jimenez has been linked with half the Premier League, more out of hope than expectation, by Benfica’s local media.
The club’s record signing certainly hasn’t had the impact required and he struggled for games over much of last season, not finding the back of the net often enough when given a chance.
For a long time there have been fanciful claims of Benfica looking for a huge fee for the Mexican international, without anything to really back that up. There was once interest from China and that seemed to have given the Lisbon club’s president Luis Felipe Vieira the idea his player is worth €50m.
And yet reality told a very different story.
Following Friday’s claims of Wolves being close to a deal to sign the player, A Bola now claim things are almost there. Their headline reads ‘Jimenez – on the way to Wolverhampton’ and it’s reported as a loan deal with an option to purchase.
Wolves will pay €3m for the loan, according to the claims, and then have a €38m buying clause next summer, taking the deal to €41m. That is frankly absurd, and unless Jimenez starts pulling up trees in the Premier League, the figure appears to be for marketing purposes only.
A throw of the dice at €3m isn’t such a huge gamble, and maybe Jimenez can show Luis Felipe Vieira has been right all along.
A Bola say the 27 year old’s move ‘should be announced at the beginning of next week’.
