PSV is ‘fast on its way’ to snare Carlos Vinícius as the new striker, it knows Eindhovens Dagblad to report. The daily newspaper and the Portuguese TVI already announced on Sunday evening that the people of Eindhoven were interested in the 26-year-old striker of Benfica. Despite the fact that Eintracht Frankfurt and Zenit were also in the market for him, PSV seems to succeed in bringing him in.
It Eindhovens Dagblad writes that Vinicius will probably be hired and that “several receipts around the club are counting on the situation being largely ticked off”. Vinicius was loaned out by Benfica to Tottenham Hotspur last season, where he scored 10 goals and 3 assists in 22 games. The Spurs had an option to buy worth 45 million euros, but decided not to exercise it. Benfica coach Jorge Jesus previously announced that Vinicius is not in his plans despite a contract that runs until mid-2024, so that he can still move in the last days of the transfer window.
The striker was on the reserve bench during the matches in the preliminary round of the Champions League against PSV and Spartak Moscow, in which he did not make any minutes. The only minutes the Brazilian made this season was when he was brought in against FC Arouca in the 84th minute. Vinicius was not part of the match selection for Benfica’s league match against Tondela on Sunday. It Eindhovens Dagblad wrote that PSV played chess on several boards in the search for a new attacker.
Mergim Berisha, Luuk de Jong and Mostafa Mohamed, among others, were previously mentioned as possible reinforcements for the front line of PSV, for which trainer Roger Schmidt with Eran Zahavi actually only has one deep striker. Schmidt announced on Saturday evening that De Jong will not come to PSV. “Not this year. Of course he is a great player with a fantastic history at PSV, but he will not come to us this season,” said the PSV coach. It later turned out that De Jong himself chose not to leave Sevilla this summer.
PSV now seems to be strengthening itself with Vinicius. Benfica paid seventeen million euros in the summer of 2019 to release Vinicius from Napoli, for whom he never played an official game. In Portuguese service he was good for 24 goals and 13 assists. Vinicius previously wore the shirt of AS Monaco, Rio Ave, Real SC, Grêmio Esportivo Anápolis, Palmeiras and Santos.