Club officials think Liverpool are going to try and sign their £130m player, they’ve been watching him

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Liverpool are interested in the possibility of signing Benfica midfielder Joao Neves.

Neves has been a breakout star in Lisbon over the past year or so, leading to suggestions that Liverpool have sent scouts to see him in action.

As ever with talents emerging from Benfica, there’s supposedly already a queue of interested parties. And according to O Jogo, the Portuguese giants are expecting bids to arrive for the 19-year-old over time.

As a result, Benfica are reportedly in negotiations with Neves to extend his contract at the Estadio da Luz. Never ones to be bullied into selling their stars, the Eagles are said to be looking to insert a £130m release clause into the youngster’s contract.

This is claimed to be in an attempt to put any interested clubs off making an offer for the time being. Benfica reportedly plan on keeping Neves for another season, and will only sell him for the full value of the release clause.

Nevertheless, officials at the club are said to believe that bids may come in anyway. Manchester United are claimed to be ‘at the top of the grid’ for the Portugal international, but Liverpool are one of four other clubs reportedly ‘close behind.’

Liverpool looking at Neves

From our point of view, there’s not really much chance of Liverpool taking their interest in Neves any further.

If Benfica do manage to seal a new deal with the youngster – complete with £130m release clause – we’d say it can be ruled out completely.

As they showed in their negotiations with Chelsea for Enzo Fernandez last year, the Primeira Liga side will not bow to pressure from ‘bigger’ clubs.

If they demand that the release clause needs to be paid, then that’s likely what will end up happening.

Enzo’s transfer very much set the precedent in that regard, so we expect it’ll go the same way with Neves.

With that in mind, there’s absolutely no chance that Liverpool shell out £130m on a player with less than 50 senior appearances to his name.

Neves looks like a super little player, as you might expect. But he’s also a little on the small side for us.

With competition from clubs who will have no problem spending such huge sums, Liverpool shouldn’t be considered a front-runner here. It seems inevitable that Neves will end up leaving Benfica, but unless his price drops remarkably, a bid surely won’t arrive from Anfield.