Benfica reveal finer details of huge deal to sell defensive rock to Man City
Benfica have announced they have struck an agreement with Manchester City for the sale of Portugal defender Ruben Dias – with Nicolas Otamendi moving the other way.
The Portuguese club have announced Dias will join City for a fee of 68million euros (£62million). Argentinian centre-back Otamendi will move in the opposite direction for £15million (£13.6million).
Dias had been linked with Tottenham this summer, but it is City who have won the race after talks over the last few days.
Both deals are subject to the agreement of personal terms at their prospective clubs.
A communication from Benfica announced the club had reached two agreements with City.
It read: “In the first statement, it said (Benfica) had reached an agreement with Manchester City for the sale of all the rights of central defender Rúben Dias for the amount of €68million. This is plus an additional amount of €3.6million, depending the achievement of goals related to the English club’s sports performance.
“The said agreement is dependent on the signing of the player’s sporting employment contract with Manchester City.”
In the second statement, (Benfica) said it had reached an agreement with Manchester City to acquire the full rights of central defender Nicolas Otamendi. He will cost them €15million.
“This agreement is dependent on the signing of a sports employment contract with the player and medical examinations.”
Dias deal ends Koulibaly links
Dias, 23, will become City’s second defensive signing of the summer. That’s after they brought in Nathan Ake from Bournemouth in a deal worth an initial £41million in August.
The club hope the two arrivals will address the perceived major weakness in manager Pep Guardiola’s squad last season.
City had long been linked with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly. But they switched their attention to Dias after the Italian club’s refusal to lower their asking price.
Otamendi, 32, is set to move on after a five-year spell at City in which he has won seven major honours, including two Premier League titles.
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