Benfica have made contact over Taylor Harwood-Bellis and are willing to go to €20m, around £17m, according to Belgian reporter Sacha Tavolieri.
There is no formal bid yet. And on that money, there is unlikely to be a deal either.
Southampton rate their vice-captain far above £17m. It is not hard to see why. This is the same figure Porto tabled back in January before being sent packing.
Why Saints can hold firm
He's 24, and Saints triggered a £20m obligation to prise him from Manchester City back in 2024. Transfermarkt pegs him around £18m today. Cash in at Benfica's £17m and you would be selling him for less than he cost, in a promotion year. That is not how you build a side. He took the vice-captaincy when Adam Armstrong left in January, so his standing at St Mary's is nailed on.
Then look at what he gives you. Across 154 Championship games he has ten goals and eight assists, and for a centre-half that assist count is the giveaway. He steps out and starts moves rather than just heading it clear, and eight from the back tell you plenty about the impact that THB makes from set pieces.
Saints Marching made the point that Southampton cannot afford to lose this defender so soon after cashing in on Shea Charles. Losing your best player at the back and your main midfielder in the same window is not the plan.
The window is closing on him, not on Saints
Timing is the killer for Benfica here. Southampton open at Vicarage Road on Sunday, and Harwood-Bellis will almost certainly start if he is fit.
Would he fancy it? A move abroad with European football on offer has a pull. The Portuguese top flight is a fine stage. Yet it sits a rung below the Premier League, the level a player of his standing will be aiming at.
Southampton have batted away interest all summer and only let Charles go. West Ham had an early look before going quiet, and promoted pair Coventry and Hull sounded him out as well. Leo Scienza, Caspar Jander and Finn Azaz have all drawn eyes without moving, and Saints Marching noted last summer that his decision to stay this long was already a pleasant surprise to most fans.
So enjoy the noise, but do not panic. Benfica admire him. They have not backed it with a proper offer. The calendar is squarely on Southampton's side. Expect him in red and white at Watford this weekend, not in Lisbon.
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