Report: President tells Tottenham target’s agent there’s no point discussing transfer; £80m will get him

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The Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira ‘doesn’t even want to hear about proposals’ for the Tottenham Hotspur-linked defender Ruben Dias, according to Record.

The London Evening Standard has claimed that the Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho is a big fan of Dias, his fellow Portuguese.

But Vieira is said to have informed the 23-year-old’s agent Jorge Mendes, who also represents Mourinho, that ‘there is no point’ working on his transfer.

Tottenham are short of options in Dias’s position after Jan Vertonghen’s exit, ironically to Benfica.

But having spent heavily on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Matt Doherty and Sergio Reguilon this summer, in addition to funding a loan move for Gareth Bale, it is hard to see Spurs paying what is required for Dias – whose contract, it is claimed, contains an £80 million buyout clause.

Anything less, it seems, will not quite cut it.

Dias came through the ranks at Benfica – where he was a teammate of the on-loan Tottenham midfielder Gedson Fernandes – and has 19 caps for Portugal.

Spurs have also been linked with moves for the Benfica right-back Tomas Tavares and forwards Haris Seferovic and Carlos Vinicius.