Arsenal and Tottenham have reportedly joined Chelsea in the race for Benfica centre-back Tomas Araujo, who Crystal Palace have previously made a bid for.
The London trio are all keen to bring in defensive reinforcements and a battle for the talented 22-year-old’s signature could ignite in the coming months.
Chelsea identified Araujo as a target over the summer but ultimately decided against making a bid at the time. Palace saw an offer rejected for the Benfica star and cooled their interest in him after they managed to keep hold of Marc Guehi.
According to CaughtOffside, Arsenal and Tottenham are ‘keen on signing’ Araujo and Benfica would be willing to part ways with him for €20m (£16.6m; £22.1m).
Araujo is the latest highly-rated youngster to rise to prominence in Portugal. He broke into the Benfica first team in December 2021 and has made 29 appearances so far, scoring one goal.
Arsenal are reported to be eyeing a new centre-back to compete with vital duo Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba, while Ange Postecoglou wants more quality cover for Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero at Tottenham.
€20m is a relatively cheap fee for a player of Araujo’s quality and potential, so there may well be a battle for his services in the coming months.
Chelsea ‘really like’ Tomas Araujo
While we have been unable to confirm Arsenal and Tottenham’s reported interest in Araujo, we understand that he still figures highly on Chelsea’s shortlist.
As previously reported, the Blues are willing to sell defensive duo Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi for the right price in January. If they leave, it’s likely they will bring in a new centre-back.
Fabrizio Romano confirmed on Sunday that Chelsea ‘really like’ Araujo but admitted it is ‘too early to predict where he’s going.’ The Blues are also keen on RB Leipzig defender Castello Lukeba, but it would require a big fee to lure him away from Germany.
Araujo is the cheaper option of the two if CaughtOffside’s claim about his price tag is correct, so it will be interesting to see who makes the first concrete move for his services.
Arsenal eye Spain winger, Tottenham to pay up for Bournemouth star
Meanwhile, TEAMtalk can confirm that Arsenal are one of the clubs keeping tabs on Athletic Bilbao’s superstar winger Nico Williams.
Mikel Arteta wants to build a squad capable of dominating European football in the future and the addition of Williams would certainly be a step towards that.
The 22-year-old was one of the standouts of Euro 2024 as he helped Spain to lift the trophy. We understand that Manchester City and Liverpool are also considering moves for him.
Tottenham, on the other hand, are thought to be admirers of Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo, who has scored three goals in six Premier League appearances so far this season.
The 24-year-old forward is reported to be valued at £33m by the Cherries and it’s claimed that Spurs are ‘willing’ to match that fee to sign him in 2025.
IN FOCUS: Who is Tomas Araujo?
The starting centre-back pairing for Portugal’s national team in their most recent international fixture, against Scotland, consisted of two Benfica academy products: Ruben Dias (now at Manchester City) and Antonio Silva.
Now the next talented stopper to emerge from Benfica’s talent factory is Araujo, who might not be too far away from his own first senior international call-up.
Araujo has been developing under Benfica’s watch since 2016, when he was just 14 years old. He began playing for their B team in September 2020 and his first-team debut followed in December 2021.
To give him a chance of less gradual progress, Benfica sent Araujo on loan to Gil Vicente, also in the Primeira Liga and participating in the Europa Conference League, for the 2022-23 season. There, he made 26 appearances and scored once.
Araujo has been back with Benfica ever since, featuring 20 times last season (including three times in the Champions League) and five times so far this term. He has been operating either as a centre-half or as a right-back, although the former is his preferred position.
Having represented Portugal at every age level from U15 to U21, the youngster Araujo is establishing himself at senior level and attracting interest from a range of clubs.
