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Southampton‘s Taylor Harwood-Bellis would be on his way to Benfica after the latest developments. On Tuesday, Sport Witness relayed news of the Eagles identifying the centre-back as the priority target. They even made contact with Southampton and are ready to offer €20m. Southampton exit close Wednesday’s print edition of Record shares more details. The Southampton man is on the front page with ‘Harwood close’ in bold. This transfer story has caught the imagination in the Portuguese football media. Southampton invested €23m to sign Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Manchester City in 2024, a year after signing him on loan. He made 132 appearances, of which 48 were from [managed seven goals and three assists] last season. Manager leading Southampton man’s pursuit New Benfica manager Marco Silva faced the defender on three occasions while at Fulham. He’s leading the Portuguese club’s pursuit of the Southampton star. Silva has asked for a centre-back following António Silva’s sale to AFC Bournemouth. He and his club are focusing on Taylor Harwood-Bellis and would be ‘close to securing’ the 24-year-old’s services. Record state the transfer should go through for around €20m. This is the same figure reported yesterday. The newspaper adds: ‘Now, barring any unforeseen circumstances, his replacement will come from England to join [Clément] Lenglet, who is filling in for [Nicolás] Otamendi, Tomás Araújo, and Gabriel Índio’. However, Record’s optimism isn’t shared by Wednesday’s print edition of O Jogo, who back up the interest in the one-cap England international. However, it’s explained that Benfica aren’t confident Southampton will accept €20m.