OPINION
Tottenham must act quickly in their reported pursuit of Benfica attacker Joao Filipe as his price could soon skyrocket and cause them to miss out on him.
According to the Telegraph Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal are all keen on the 19-year-old forward and that if he is set to leave in the summer then he will cost €30million (£25.6million) due to a release clause in his contract.
The national newspaper claim that Benfica have already had discussions about offering Filipe, better known as Jota, a new deal with a much higher buy-out clause.
Given that Telegraph go on to point out that Benfica president Luis Felipe Vieira has made it clear that players will only be sold if their release clause is met; then it sounds like Jota’s price tag is about to shoot up.
The Portuguese giants are likely to remain stubborn with this stance and given that Spurs don’t have the reputation for being big spenders, you feel their chances of acquiring Jota will go down if they don’t make a move before his price is potentially increased.
The 19-year-old finished joint top-scorer for Portugal at the Under-19s European Championship last summer after scoring five goals and was named in the team of the tournament, which led to several clubs taking notice of him.
Jota, who can play as a winger or striker, is clearly a very promising prospect that any club would be lucky to have, so he would be a worthwhile investment for Spurs.
However given the level of competition for him and that his price could soon increase, then if Mauricio Pochettino’s side are serious about signing him then they have to make a move sooner rather than later.