Fulham will do battle with Leeds for the services of Benfica starlet Florentino Luis, who could move to the Premier League on loan with a view to a permanent deal, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
The Whites have identified the Portuguese midfielder, who can play as a defensively-minded screener of the back four or as a more adventurous box-to-box player, as an option to strengthen their side ahead of Fulham’s return to the top flight. The Londoners are exploring the possibility of taking the 20 year-old, whose emergence into the Benfica side has been disrupted by a series of niggling injuries over the past year, on loan – with Luis’s parent club making him available, but seeking a massive £40m for a future sale.
The highly-rated midfielder, who has been a longstanding target of AC Milan, is also interesting Leeds, who are also contemplating a possible loan deal. Luis, a star in the junior football where he helped Portugal win the European under-16 and under-18 championships in 2016 and 2018, made his senior debut for Benfica as a subsitute in a ten-goal tonking of Nacional in February 2019 before helping the Eagles beat Galatasaary in the Europa League four days later – which was the club’s first win in Turkey.
The powerful midfielder, who is of Angolan descent, made eleven appearances as Benfica won the Portuguese title in 2018/2019, but he played just ten league games this season, frustrated by a troublesome knee injury before returning for the last three domestic fixtures. Benfica are now open to loaning him out for first-team experience – but the hefty price tag for a permanent deal highlights his significant potential.
No, Fulham should not start loaning players. When are they going to learn that we are not a club that’s there to bring players on and then have to let them go.
High fee after loan knee injury no thanks . Get Harrison Reed and go with what we got in midfield CB next to Hector what we need
As a priority we need a director of football who knows about the game. The remarks re Sessignon as an 19 year old year old letting Fulham down when last in the prem do nothing for the reputation of the club. The reason why we dropped down last time was not that we spent too much money, but that we spent it unwisely. It did seem as though the then manager had much say on the recruitment of players with prem experiance.
We are living on rumours of course and it remains to be seen if the owners have learnt their lesson and fully involve the coach in the recruitment of players