Benfica will sell Julian Weigl for just £12.5 million with West Ham United looking to lure the German international to the Premier League this month, as reported by Record.
When Toni Kroos said back in 2017 – with bullish certainty – that the 21-year-old Weigl was ‘going to be a world-class player’, few would have disagreed with the Real Madrid star’s assessment.
The-then Borussia Dortmund midfielder was one of the first names on Thomas Tuchel’s BVB team sheet for a reason. Stylish and silky, yes, but not afraid to stick the boot in either, Weigl looked every inch the continent’s next elite-level defensive playmaker; The Bavarian Busquets, if you will.
“I already knew Weigl a bit when I joined Dortmund,” Marc Bartra, the former Barcelona defender, told FourFourTwo.
“He is very similar to (Sergio) Busquets. He dictates play from midfield and helps us a lot when we lose the ball. It looks like he always has everything under control.
“He really reminds me of Busquets a lot, even if there is obviously still some distance between the two of them. Busi is the best in the world in his position. But Julian is quite similar.”
Can West Ham get the best out of Benfica’s Julian Weigl?
It came as a real surprise, then, when Weigl joined Benfica in 2020. With the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain taking an interest at the time, this felt like – if not a backwards step – then certainly a sideways one (Goal).
And reports suggesting that Benfica are now hoping to sell Weigl for around the same fee Bournemouth paid for Marcus Tavernier is indicative of how far his stock has fallen over in Portugal, with a sudden a return to the German national team in March taking Weigl by surprise as much as it did many observers (BuliNews).
According to Record, Benfica want £12.5 million for Weigl. An opportunity the likes of West Ham, Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Monchengladbach and even AC Milan are considering, in the hope that a now-26-year-old Weigl can still realise the sky-high potential he showed during those heady days in yellow and black.
Weigl, capped six times by Germany, would come a lot cheaper than some of West Ham’s other midfield targets; Amadou Onana, for instance. The Hammers have already made three bids for Onana, with Lille demanding £30 million-plus.
And David Moyes’ excellent track record at the London Stadium for getting the best out of perviously underperforming players – see Craig Dawson, Kurt Zouma, Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Fornals – bodes well for Weigl.
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