Manchester City are interested in Benfica centre-back Ruben Dias, according to reports in the Portuguese media. As is the case with the defender’s teammate Florentino, the Citizens will have to battle rivals Manchester United for his signature.
City are said to be looking at signing a new centre-half in the January transfer window, with Aymeric Laporte sidelined with injury. Milan Skriniar has been mentioned as a possible option recently but Dias is also believed to be on the club’s radar.
On Twitter, supporters are not particularly excited by the club’s reported interest in Dias:
rather spend 90m on skriniar or 60m for romagnoli.
— Henry Chiu (@HenryChiu17) September 9, 2019
No thanks
— Declan Flaherty (@Decolski) September 9, 2019
Not a fair fight we have agent Bernardo & agent Cancelo
— #GJ9 (@iOxQ8_) September 9, 2019
Ruben Dias
Milan Skriniar
Nathan Ake— Ahmad Zaki (@zakiimza) September 9, 2019
Better Skriniar or Romagnoli
— Issac Francisco (@IssacFrancisco_) September 9, 2019
Yeah right, united is using city as their scout for players
— papite (@jgedeon1717) September 9, 2019
40M€ cláusula, Skriniar 80M€
— Real Madrid, Man City (@fidels782) September 9, 2019
Dias reportedly has a €66m release clause at the moment, but that could rise to €88m if the defender signs a new contract. It looks as though his agent Jorge Mendes has been touting the player around in order to a get a better deal for his client so it may be the case that neither City nor United will follow up with a bid.