Newcastle United & Wolves dealt potential transfer blow amid Champions League progression

Benfica manager Roger Schmidt has given an update of the future of reported Newcastle United and Southampton target Goncalo Ramos.

The highly-rated forward helped Benfica reach the group stages of the Champions League on Tuesday night when they saw off Dynamo Kiev with a 5-0 aggregate win in a qualifying round tie.

Ramos set up his side’s this goal for former Ajax star David Neres three minutes before half-time but was replaced by Petar Musa in the early stages of the second-half after picking up an injury.

Ramos’ form in the first month of the season has seen him attract attention from a number of Premier League clubs.

The Portugal Under-21 International has scored five goals and provided four assists during his side’s first six games of the season.

Newcastle and Southampton are both said to have made enquiries for the forward and Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Bruno Lage openly spoke about Ramos last week.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur, he said: “I’ve seen him play as an offensive midfielder, I’ve seen him as a striker, the way he plays - and I’m so happy for the way he’s started this season.

“Who doesn’t want to have these kind of players? But the most important thing is that we have our profile and we don’t just have one target, we have more targets for that position.”

However, Benfica’s progress into the lucrative group stages of the Champions League are seen as a boost for their hopes of keeping one of their prized assets - and manager Schmidt has admitted he hopes that proves to be the case.

“This is not just about money,” he told Portuguese outlet O Jogo.

“Economic issues are very important, the money we have now is very important and gives another stability.

“We have two more weeks before entering the competition and we will see what happens until the end of the transfer window.”