Manchester City set sign Benfica’s Ruben Dias for an initial fee of €68 million

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Liga Nos side Benfica have confirmed that they’ve come to an agreement with Manchester City to sign defender Ruben Dias this summer for an initial fee of €68 million. The Portuguese defender will sign a five-year contract and has been linked with a move to Tottenham and Manchester this summer.

Less than a day after their humbling 5-2 loss to Leicester City, Manchester City are set to sign defensive reinforcements in the form of Ruben Dias. The 23-year-old is reportedly undergoing a medical with the Manchester side although the Cityzens and Benfica have come to an agreement over a €68 million fee for the Portuguese international. It will, however, mean that no move for Kalidou Koulibaly will take place as reports indicated that Napoli and City were unable to come to an agreement.

Dias will sign a five-year contract with the Cityzens and it has reportedly forced Tottenham to go after Milan Skriniar instead as Dias was their top target. The move for the Benfica defender also means that Eric Garcia can sign for Barcelona with the Spaniard heavily linked with a move back to the Camp Nou. Benfica boss Jorge Jesus, after a game on Saturday, confirmed the move and admitted that losing Dias will be a massive loss.

"I'm pretty sure it was his (Rúben Dias's) last game, but sometimes everything changes at the last second in football. I don't think that's going to happen, though. He's a player we're sorry to see go, he came through the academy, is our captain and plays for the national team. I also take some of the blame for him leaving today," Jesus said, reported Sky Sports.

"This is also to do with getting knocked out of the Champions League and there are things that need to be balanced (financially) at management level. He has a high market value and is certainly already a fantastic player who will continue to improve."

Benfica also released an official statement confirming the move and they also confirmed that Nicolas Otamendi will be signing for the club in a swap deal. The Argentine will move the other way for a fee of €15 million with him ending a five-year spell in Manchester, having won two Premier League titles under Pep Guardiola. The statement further revealed, however, that the deals are dependent on the players passing their medicals at their new sides.

"In the first statement (10:59 pm), it said that it had reached an agreement with Manchester City for the sale of all the rights of central defender Rúben Dias for the amount of 68 million euros, plus an additional amount of 3.6 million euros, depending the achievement of goals related to the English club's sports performance. The said agreement is dependent on the signing of the player's sporting employment contract with Manchester City," reads the statement on Benfica's website.

"In the second statement (23:00) Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol, SAD said it had reached an agreement with Manchester City to acquire the full rights of central defender Nicolás Otamendi for the amount of 15 million euros. This agreement is dependent on the signing of a sports employment contract with the player and medical examinations."

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