Liverpool have two entrants from Serie A in race to sign Portuguese centre-back

Juventus and Napoli enter race for Liverpool transfer target Antonio Silva

Liverpool will face a transfer battle for SL Benfica’s 19-year-old central defender Antonio Silva from Serie A giants Juventus and Napoli. At the present time, Silva is a part of Fernando Santos’ Portugal squad and started in their 2-1 loss against South Korea in the Group Stage.

The teenager has made 18 appearances across all competitions for Benfica so far, after impressing Roger Schmidt during the teenager’s time with the U23 squad. A Bola (h/t Liverpool Echo) claims that the Serie A giants have kept a tab on the youngster’s contract situation.

A previous report from A Bola also stated that an ‘unnamed’ Premier League club made an offer of £52m for the youngster. He has a long-term deal with Benfica, which only runs out in 2027 (Transfermarkt) and the Portuguese club naturally value their defender highly.

Even noted football transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano wrote in his CaughtOffside column that Liverpool’s pursuit of the player would not be cheap and would set them back by at least £70m-£78m.

Silva headed to the L4?

Liverpool presently do not have an immediate need for depth when it comes to the centre-backs but having said that, both starting centre-halves, Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip are over the age of 30 and even though we have enough depth in Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Nathaniel Phillips, more depth cannot possibly be bad for the Reds.

He has been on the scoresheet thrice in his short career, and that was the point of discussion on CBS Sport for Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher who seems to be a huge fan of Silva and his goal-scoring antics, which are rare for a central defender.

Moreover, Liverpool recently signed Darwin Nunez for a hefty sum of £85m from Benfica, which could in all likelihood, make the Reds’ pursuit a tad bit easy as they might be familiar with Benfica’s backroom staff.

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Then again, it isn’t that easy. Teams that have the money often get their way and if the Reds want Silva – a highly-rated youngster – then they would know that they must come up with the cash given his long contract at the Dragao.