Manuel Benson is keen on a move to the Championship after Vincent Kompany’s Burnley submitted an opening bid of £1.5 million for the Royal Antwerp winger, as reported by Voetbal Krant.
The Clarets side who take to the pitch during Friday’s curtain-raiser against Huddersfield Town will look almost unrecognisable from the one that suffered relegation from the Premier League in May.
Out goes Nick Pope, in comes Aro Muric. Goodbye James Tarkowski, hello Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Ben Mee for CJ Egan-Riley. Wout Weghorst for Scott Twine.
And, with Maxwel Cornet expected to follow Tarkowski and co out the door before the September deadline – he has a £17.5 million release clause in his contract and wants to play European football in 2022/23 – finding a new winger is the next task on Kompany’s lengthy to-do list.
Burnley want Manuel Benson as new Maxwel Cornet
According to Voetbal Krant, Burnley failed with an opening bid of £1.5 million for 25-year-old Benson this week. The one-time Inter Milan target has less than 12 months on his contract. But Royal Antwerp are determined to at least recoup the club-record £2.7 million fee they paid for Benson back in 2019.
The report adds that Benson, who has been likened to one Gareth Bale, can imagine leaving Belgium for a fresh start in England’s second tier.
According to DH, the former Belgium U21 ace turned down a move to Monaco during Thierry Henry’s time in charge of the Ligue 1 giants. That was largely because Les Monegasques wanted to farm the youngster out on loan to Cercle Brugge; An idea Benson was not exactly keen on.
Per The Sun, Burnley have also seen a £750,000 bid rejected by Blackpool for right-back Jordan Gabriel. Deals for Jackson Muleka, Callum O’Hare and Bart Verbruggen have also fallen through, though KV Oostende striker Makhtar Gueye would welcome the chance to work with Kompany at Turf Moor.
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