Man City and Barcelona lead battle to sign Benfica star – ‘financial difficulties’ forcing club to cash in | OneFootball

Manchester City are joined by Barcelona at the front of the queue to land Benfica defender Ruben Dias’s signature, claim Record as relayed via Sport Witness.

Dias (22), has been mooted as a leading target in City’s plans to bolster their defensive options in the summer for several months. Now, Record report that Benfica may be compelled to sell the centre-back due to his €2M annual salary.

The source adds that it is City and Spanish side FC Barcelona who are the leading candidates to take advantage of Benfica’s financial problems.

Barcelona, however, are said to only be willing to spend as much as €40m on the Portugal international – which could give City the advantage in the race to sign Dias.

Dias has been with Benfica since he joined the club’s youth academy in 2008. He made his first-team debut in 2017 and has won seventeen international caps for Portugal since then.

In addition to his defensive contributions, Dias is a notable threat from set-pieces – he has netted eight times in his 85 appearances for Benfica’s first-team.

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