Premier League boss denies £25m bid for Newcastle United target - but drops very clear hint

The Portugal Under-21 star has been the subject of intense transfer speculation over the last month.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Bruno Lage has hailed Newcastle United transfer target Goncalo Ramos as ‘a top player’ - but stopped short of declaring his interest in the forward.

The Benfica forward is believed to be one of the players on the Magpies list of targets as they look to add more attacking depth to Eddie Howe’s squad before the transfer window closes next month.

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Ramos has enjoyed a productive start to the season, scoring five goals in as many games and hitting a hat-trick as his side moved to within touching distance of a place in the group stages of this season’s Champions League.

Howe was also given a first-hand view of what Ramos would offer after scoring in Benfica’s pre-season win over Newcastle last month.

However, the Magpies are far from the only club with an interest in the Portugal Under-21 star with the likes of Southampton and Everton also linked with a move for the forward.

Seeing Wolves credited with an interest in Ramos will not be a surprise with several Portuguese stars making their way to Molineux in recent years.

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Their current crop of Portuguese players was further swelled this week when manager Lage completed the £40.5million addition of Sporting midfielder Matheus Nunes.

That move was hot on the heels of the £29million deal that secured Valencia winger Goncalo Guedes, who was reportedly the subject of late interest from Newcastle prior to his move to Wolves.

Lage opened up on his relationship with Ramos after working with the forward during his time working with Benfica’s ‘B’ team and first-team prior to his appointment at Molineux.

“We’re still looking for a striker,” he explained in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday lunchtime’s visit to Tottenham Hotspur.

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“The last days I’ve received so many mesages about him (Ramos) and I’ve had people send me videos from Portuguese TV saying I’ve called the player and ‘Wolves did the offer’ but even I was surprised as I didn’t talk with him.

“I’ve asked my chairman and we didn’t do any offer for him.

“The most important thing is to understand that he’ a top player, a young player, I’ve worked with him. I didn’t get the chance to put him in the first team because when I bring him from the u19s to the first team, after one week of putting him into the first team, I finished my relationship with Benfica.

“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.”

Ramos will not be in action this weekend as Benfica focus on their Champions League play-off second leg against Dynamo Kyiv.