THE Southampton management refused an offer from Benfica, worth 20 million euros, for Taylor Harwood-Bellis, according to the portal The Athletic this Saturday.
Still, despite this first ‘denial’, the English club remains open to negotiating the central defender.
For his part, Taylor Harwood-Bellis welcomes a move to Luz, if the two clubs reach an understanding, knowing in advance that Marco Silva appreciates his qualities.
At just 24 years old, the English defender has already started his fourth season with Southampton, having started in the victory against Colchester (2-0), in the English League Cup.
Harwood-Bellis arrived at the Saints in the summer of 2023, on loan from Manchester City, ending up staying permanently after Southampton activated the purchase option worth almost 24 million euros.
The fellow English international – he made his debut in November 2024, against the Republic of Ireland, having also scored a goal – has since then been a fundamental player at Southampton and not even relegation from the Premier League, at the end of the 2024/25 season, made him leave St Mary’s Stadium.
Rui Costa promised news soon
The need to find a new central defender, following the departure of António Silva to Bournemouth, has been identified for several weeks at Luz, but Rui Costa has already assured that he is dealing with the file, remembering that there are negotiations that require more time.
“There has been an uproar, a huge problem with the issue of the central defender. I understand all of this. António Silva left and a central defender has not yet arrived, but the truth is that we are not building a squad for August, but for the entire year. Guaranteed, in the next few days, a central defender will arrive, because what we have done is, between the technical team and structure, to choose well, and not quickly”, began by explaining the president of Benfica, last Wednesday, before the departure of the red delegation to Scotland, where they would draw with Hearts on Thursday.
“As we don’t feel the urgency of bringing in a central team from one day to the next, we prefer to spend a little more days, especially because the negotiations don’t always go as we want. Many of them require more days, and that’s what has delayed the process a little, above all, because we want, together with the technical team, to choose well and not quickly”, said Rui Costa, to journalists, at Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon.
Increasingly expanding target list
Still, it is worth remembering that Benfica has been very active in the search for a new central defender, who will fight directly with Tomás Araújo and Clément Lenglet (also a reinforcement for this new season) for a place in Marco Silva’s starting eleven.
In addition to Taylor Harwood-Bellis, names such as Josip Sutalo (from Ajax), Jonathan Jesus (from Cruzeiro), Fikayo Tomori (from AC Milan), Ryan Flamingo (from PSV), Tosin Adarabioyo (from Chelsea) or… Ibrahima Ba, who would end up leaving Famalicão for Sporting, for 21.25 million euros, have also been highlighted.
(News updated at 9:58 am)
