Leeds United’s rise to the Premier League has brought transfer rumours aplenty crawling out of the woodwork. The biggest one has to be a link to Edinson Cavani, the former PSG star. Initial interest was confirmed by Andrea Radrizzani himself speaking to Sky Sports Italia.
This was then developed further with confirmed contact with his representatives. Now, Whites fans hopes could be developed even further with news that a rival for his signature, Benfica, will not be pursuing an interest in the Uruguayan superstar.
Benfica were said to be interested in the talented Uruguayan and a meeting was said to have been set up by some sources in the media. However, Benfica’s interest is over with Portuguese source A Bola quoting a ‘Benfica source’ who denied “the existence of any meeting between Luis Filipe Vieira (President of Benfica) and representatives of Edinson Cavani.”
Benfica closing the door on any deal, says A Bola, comes due to the €20m/£18.2m financial package that Cavani’s representatives are demanding. Another Portuguese source, Record, supports this saying that Cavani will not be a Benfica player.
They then intriguingly add that the Uruguayan has “millionaire offers from other countries” on the table. This would seem to confirm that there is the possibility that he will be signed this summer and, with Leeds United’s confirmed interest, it would not be beyond the bounds of possibility that the Whites are one of those sides.
It is easy to see why any team with the right money would be interested in a player of Cavani’s calibre. He’s been capped 116 times for Uruguay and has 50 international goals to his name. He spent seven years at PSG after arriving in 2013 for a huge £58m transfer fee from Napoli.
His time at the French giants saw him make 301 appearances, scoring a remarkable 200 goals and providing 43 assists. This season, across all competitions for PSG, Cavani made 22 appearances, scoring 7 goals and providing 3 assists.
It might not be fantasy, but what a fairytale it would be if Leeds United signed Edinson Cavani to spearhead their first season in the Premier League for 16 years. At £18.2m-a-year, it’s a high price but it is just the cost of one Jean-Kevin Augustin, after all.
