Scout report of Portuguese starlet wanted by Manchester City and Barcelona

Bengaluru, April 28: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is desperately looking forward to the upcoming transfer window in order to bolster the leaky defence of the Cityzens that has struggled in the absence of Aymeric Laporte when he was out with injury. The Sky Blues have set their sights on several defenders across the continent but their priority target is believed to be young Benfica defender Ruben Dias.

Pep Guardiola's side would have to battle his former club Barcelona for the services of the 22-year-old while there is also significant interest from both Manchester United and Juventus. Despite the young defender having a release clause of £87 million in his Benfica contract, it is claimed that the interested parties are not prepared to shy away from spending such an astronomic fee for him.

Here, we take a close look at the young Portuguese international:

A modern-day centre-back

Ruben Dias is exactly the kind of defender Pep Guardiola likes to have at the heart of his defence. The Portuguese international excels with the ball at his feet and it is pretty evident from his statistics. The 22-year-old has maintained a passing accuracy of 88.8% in the Primeira Liga this season which speaks for his ability to find his teammates with relative ease.

Dias has played an average of 64.1 passes every game this season while playing 5.3 long balls to find his teammates upfront. These figures show how effective he is with his passing, both long and short. In fact, he is really very creative for a centre-back having played 0.5 key passes every game and would certainly excel at a team like Manchester City where centre-backs see a lot of the ball.

A Commanding defender

Most modern-day ball-playing defenders often lack the basic defensive abilities but Ruben Dias is certainly not among them. He is very good with the ball at his feet but has also got a no-nonsense approach in his game and is not prone to mistakes while trying to do fancy things. Dias is aerially very solid and has won 2.3 aerial duels every game this campaign.

He has also averaged 1.3 tackles, 1 interception and 2.8 clearances every game this season which is really impressive statistics for a player playing at a team like Benfica who usually dominate their opponents in their League. Dias is also a big goal threat from set-pieces thanks to his impressive aerial ability which is a big plus for his resume.

Experience

Ruben Dias might be just 22 years of age but hardly lacks the experience. He already has 124 first-team appearances to his name for Benfica and is pretty experienced at the international level as well. He is capped 17 times for Portugal and was a key member of the Portuguese side that won the UEFA Nations League in 2019.

He was even named the Man of the Match in the final against The Netherlands and also earned a spot in the Team of the Tournament. For his relatively young age, Dias has a lot of experience in his locker. He is also a natural leader and has captained the Benfica side on a number of occasions this season.

So, it is hardly a surprise to see Ruben Dias attracting interest from the biggest clubs across Europe. He is a complete package for a defender and is a long-term prospect as well.