Player becomes 'hot potato' after €50m Newcastle bid was rejected – Drama growing after January promise
Today at 11:32 AM
Newcastle United say a €50m offer for Benfica defender António Silva rejected in the summer, a decision the Portuguese club now be regretting.
Journalist Nuno Reis explains the situation to A Bola, reporting that Silva is growing increasingly unhappy at Benfica after falling out of favour this season.
The 21-year-old has been in out of Bruno Lage's plans so far, with 12 appearances in all competitions to date totalling 994 minutes.
It's a big drop off for the player, who remains one of the more highly regarded players in Benfica's squad and is considered a potential star of the future.
He's already been linked with moves all around Europe because of that, including to the Premier League, where the top six are regularly credited with an interest in him.
The same can be said for Newcastle, who were first credited with an interest in March last year and then again throughout that summer, before reports earlier this year stated they were considering a big bid for him.
A deal never happened this summer, but they've been encouraged to come back, with a report last month stating that a €35m plus €15m offer may be enough to get the defender in the January transfer window.
Reis says that is not the case as Benfica president Rui Costa has backed himself into a corner after rejecting a €50m bid from Newcastle in the summer.
"António Silva is a Gestifute player, and Gestifute had a great offer for António Silva and Benfica in the summer," he said.
"Newcastle offered €45/50m for him, and Rui Costa said no, that it was too little. António Silva stayed close to the place. Recently, Juventus appeared to put a lot of pressure on António Silva, and they are, in fact, very interested in him.
"But the problem is that Rui Costa has already promised Benfica that in January no one will leave the club, except for the release clause, and the release clause, António Silva, I believe, is €100m.
"Gestifute and Jorge Mendes, who has also reached out to Juventus, that there is no chance of negotiating António Silva under the recession clause in January. How does this leave António Silva? It leaves António Silva a little bit angry and with reason.
"And more and more now, at a time when the Otamendi travels quickly to Argentina to deal with personal matters, which are known to be the daughter’s birthday. It’s not a small thing.
"The truth is that the news became public, it is known exactly what the reason is, and now Bruno Lages has a huge hot potato in his hand to decide."
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