There has been a lot of media speculation that Benfica are chasing Taylor Harwood-Bellis this summer and the media in Portugal are doing their bit to up the ante, the latest report is that Southampton have had a transfer request land on their desk.

bet365.com are reporting that Portuguese news outlet Correio da Manhã are saying Taylor Harwood-Bellis has now informed Southampton of his desire to leave the club this summer.

The headline says transfer request, but whether that has been done formally or merely he has indicated in discussions that he would like to go is as of yet unclear.

Certainly he would be missed if he where to go, but with two years left on his contract Saints are in no hurry nor under any pressure to sell.

The report goes on to say that Saints turned down a bid of £20 million from Benfica at the weekend, which is not surprising given that is less than the fee that they paid to sign him on a permanent basis two years ago after his initial year long loan spell and to be blunt since then THB has improved as a player and won an England cap.

The claim is that Southampton will not entertain anything under £30 million for the central defender and the problem here is that Benfica are not willing to pay anything like that.

Their record transfer fee at the moment stands at around £40 million in 2022/23 for Enzo Fernández and this is the record by a country mile, the second highest being Darwin Nunez at £30 million and then it drops steeply.

For the top club in their country they have not spent big , only 7 players in their history have cost more than £20 million, so it would seem that the bid they are said to have made at the weekend is not going to go much higher.

So the current revelation that THB has seemingly put in a transfer request would seem to suggest that this is Benfica and their sympathetic media and a player agent or two trying to up the ante on Southampton.

All Photos Via Reuters