Nicolas Gaitan celebrated his second league title with Benfica last week, but doubts remain whether he will be at the club next season.
Benfica, like other Portuguese clubs, rely on selling players at a high price, to sustain their economy. Gaitan has been a constant performer for the Eagles over the past five years, but Portuguese press are trying to highlight that the time is right for Benfica to cash in on him.
The 27-year-old winger is a versatile player who can play in all the positions up front and has been selected in the Argentina’s Copa America squad.
Gaitan has been a long term target of Manchester United (going by the media reports) and he was heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford last season as well.
Portugal newspaper A Bola has been claiming for a while that Chelsea are showing a keen interest in signing the Argentine winger, who has a release clause of €35m.
Spanish giants Valencia, bankrolled by rich businessman Peter Lim, are also showing a strong interest in him. A Bola claim that both the Manchester clubs – Manchester United & Manchester City – have followed him throughout the season and it won’t be a surprise, if either of them make a formal approach for him.
While Portuguese press always try to project the transfer stories in good light that involves selling a player to a big European club unlike media of other European countries, one cannot help but think, why would Chelsea need another winger at the moment? They already have the likes of Hazard, Oscar, Willian and Cuadrado in their ranks while Mohamed Salah could be recalled as well following his sensational loan spell with Fiorentina.
In case of Manchester United, they do possess an avalanche of attacking players in their ranks and have other targets. The Red Devils are plotting moves for talented players like Raheem Sterling or Gareth Bale, and it is highly unlikely they would consider Nico Gaitan as a potential target to join Old Trafford in the summer.
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