According to The Sun, Chelsea are planning to beat Manchester United to the signing of Benfica defender Antonio Silva after scouting him.
The London giants strengthened their central defence last year with the purchases of Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi, but they are eyeing another quality recruit to succeed Thiago Silva in the squad. As per The Sun, Silva has been identified as their priority target but he won’t come on the cheap this month.
Chelsea recently made a proposal to sign the defender for £52 million with Armando Broja acting as a makeweight but the proposal was snubbed by Benfica. The Portuguese giants have made it clear that the Blues will have to trigger the £87 million release clause in the contract of Silva to sign him this winter.
Huge talent
Silva made his debut for Benfica in September 2022 and has since developed into one of the most sought-after young defenders in European football. He possess strong distribution skills and has completed 93% of his passes this season. He has also won 66% of his duels while making 2.8 tackles and 6.8 recoveries per outing.
The 20-year-old has all the traits to become a world-class centre-back in the coming seasons. Man United have been linked with him in recent weeks, but they are unlikely to afford his signature this month with their Financial Fair Play problems as well as the anticipated delay over the approval of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority stake.
Chelsea have similar FFP concerns too after the lavish spending in the last few transfer windows, but they could part ways with the likes of Trevoh Chalobah, Ian Maatsen and possibly Conor Gallagher to balance their books. Chelsea signed Enzo Fernandez from Benfica in a long-term payment plan last winter where they agreed a higher fee than his release clause. They may attempt to do something similar to prise away Silva from the Lisbon heavyweights. We won’t be surprised if the transfer saga drags until deadline day with the Blues needing to recoup funds from player sales first.
