Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Manchester City are in talks to sign Rúben Dias.
Pep Guardiola wants a right-sided central defender, having decided previously not to replace Vincent Kompany who retired at the end of the 2018 – 2019 season.
He has been linked with a host of names, including Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, and Atlético Madrid’s José Giménez, but they are unwilling to meet the asking price of either of the two clubs involved, and have turned to Dias as a cheaper alternative.
Dias has been at the age of Benfica since the age of 11 when he joined their youth set-up. He made his first-team debut against Boavista in 2017, and has since made 134 appearances for the club, scoring 11 times.
He has also been capped 18 times for Portugal.
If he does join City, he will be their third signing of the window, after fellow defender Nathan Aké from Bournemouth and winger Ferran Torres from Valencia.
City also have been associated with a move for Sevilla’s Jules Kounde.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.