With interest gathering over Darwin Nunez ahead of the opening of the summer window, Benfica will no doubt be hoping to encourage a bidding war for their most valuable asset.
It’s a situation both Liverpool and Manchester are keen to avoid in their respective pursuits of the 22-year-old, however, as Fabrizio Romano reports in a tweet.
An opening bid of £68m is close to the £66m threshold the Reds were hoping to stay close to in any potential move for the Uruguayan, though it’s a figure the club is expected to exceed.
Some sources have claimed that an amount in excess of £80m is the rough ballpark amount the Primeira Liga outfit are aiming for – a fee that would break our current transfer record held by Virgil van Dijk’s £75m move from Southampton.
With Sadio Mane on the way out, however, and Liverpool in need of a quality replacement who can bring down the average age of the forward line, there are few options in world football more suitable to the task than Nunez.