Chelsea, Man Utd boost their hopes of signing Benfica CB as Serie A giants retire from race
The Premier League due are said to be both interested in boosting their defences brining in new recruits in January. Lindelof, 22, is on both clubs’ shortlists and Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has recently backed his compatriot to join the Old Trafford outfit claiming that he’s ready to play for a big club like the Red Devils.
Chelsea, on the other hand, have both Lindelof and Kalidou Koulibaly among their priorities for the winter transfer window. The solid rock Napoli centre-back, however, is going to leave his club for one month to play the African cup of nations with Sengal and that makes Lindelof a more likely target to sign in January.
Benfica are not going to enter transfer talks to sell their centre-back and are only open to sell Lindelof to any club that will match the player’s € 30 million release clause.
Juventus are not among the clubs willing to invest as much in January, whilst Inter prefer a cheaper and Italian defender with Sassuolo centre-back Francesco Acerbi who is understood to be on top of Piero Ausilio’s shopping list, not to mention that the nerazzurri’s priority will be to sell rather than buy players in the incoming transfer window.
Lorenzo Bettoni @lorebetto
