Manchester United were unable to meet the expectations of the fans in the 2023/24 season. The club finished on 8th position in the Premier League and was uncertain to play in european competition. Fortunately, United secured the win against their city rivals in FA Cup final featuring Manchester Derby. This win helped United achieve Europa League for the next season. However there are certain departments where the Red Devils are noticeably weak and want to improve. One of those is midfield department. United have linked with various midfielders along with Joao Neves who had an impressive season with Benfica.
Manchester United signed Casemiro two years ago when he was at top of his game with Real Madrid. The Brazilian midfielder came to United after winning five champions league titles and thus had great expectations from the fans. However he has been consistently poor and unable to help the club. Eventually Casemiro has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford this season. Red Devils are already looking for his replacement and are heavily linked with Manuel Ugarte. Along with the Uruguayan international United are linked with Portugese midfielder Joao Neves and have already submitted two bids to Benfica.
Joao Neves’s current Benfica contract
Joao Neves has been with Benfica since his young days. The portugese represented Benfica on youth levels before breaking into Benfica’s B team. Quickly he became the member of Benfica’s first team and has impressed everyone in just two years. Despite being on 19 years old, Neves has already made 9 appearances for Portugese national team out of which 2 came in Euro 2024.
In december 2022, Neves signed contract extension with Benfica. The new contract keeps him at club until 2028 and has a huge release clause of €120 million. After the exit of Enzo Fernandez, Joao Neves has been Benfica’s regular starter. Due to his constant good performances the Portugese international has impressed both club and fans. Benfica’s president Rui Costa absolutely adores the player and is unwilling to part ways with him.
How much did United offer Benfica for Neves
It was reported in june that United submitted an opening bid of €60 million for Neves. However the bid was quickly rejected by Benfica. Correio De Manha have now reported that United have raised their bid to €70 million. Along with United, French champions PSG have made an similar offer. However, Benfica have revealed that the only way to get hands on Neves is by activating his €120 million release clause.
United are hoping to win their first Premier League title since 2012. To do so they need a lot of improvement and are working hard to achieve it. Erik Ten Hag has signed a new contract making him the United manager until 2026. Dan Ashworth has taken the role of sporting director and is already working on bringing in Matthijs De Ligt. Along with De Ligt, United are interested in signing Manuel Ugarte and Jarrad Branthwaite. However Branthwaite’s asking price is proving too high for the 20 times English champions.
Joao Neves this season
Joao Neves made 55 appearances across all competitions for Benfica in 2023/24 season out of which 33 came in portugese league. Neves scored 3 goals along with providing 1 assist for Benfica in those 33 matches. The Portugese fired 29 shots out of which 11 were on target. He achieved 89.9% passing accuracy throughout the season. Neves had been superb in defense making 53 tackles with 81.5% winning percentage. In addition, the tackles made by Neves are very clean as he received only 3 yellow cards and 0 red cards throughout the season.
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