‘Why not?’: Coach open to selling reported Tottenham target after failed Spurs bid

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Benfica coach Jorge Jesus has expressed his desire to sell reported Tottenham Hotspur target Carlos Vinicius due to a surplus of strikers at the Estadio da Luz, while speaking to Record.

With just a week left in the transfer window, Jose Mourinho is still crying out for a new number nine capable of easing the goal-scoring burden on Harry Kane.

And it just so happens that one of his former clubs is willing to play ball.

Vinicius might have scored a career-best 24 goals in 47 games for Benfica last season, but it seems that the always outspoken Jorge Jesus does not share predecessor Bruno Lage’s admiration for the late-blooming Brazilian.

Vinicius has played just 18 minutes of football in Benfica’s first two games of the new campaign and, speaking as Ruben Dias’s move to Manchester City edges closer, Jesus suggested that another of the club’s biggest stars could also be heading out the door.

“We usually play in most games with two strikers. Now, we have four (in the squad), with the boy Gonçalo Ramos we have five,” says Jesus, who returned for a second spell at Benfica after winning an historic treble at Flamengo.

“If Vinicius has offers and is a player out of which Benfica can make a significant financial contribution…If we let Ruben Dias go, why not let Vinicius go?

“As a coach, I have to look at the interests of the team and the club.”

TVI24 reported last week that Tottenham have made two bids for Vinicius so far, but a second offer worth around £27 million still fell short of Benfica’s valuation.

With just one year left on his contract, Arkadiusz Milik would come a lot cheaper by comparison, with Napoli looking to sell the Poland international for a bargain £23 million (Gazzetta dello Sport).