19-year old Pedro Neto could be on his way to Benfica - for £15million

Benfica are closing in on the signing of Lazio right winger Pedro Neto.

Neto, now 19, joined Lazio for a total of 17 million euros from Braga back in 2017 when he was just 17 years of age, a huge sum of money for a player that had only played a total 54 minutes of senior football for Braga across 3 league matches.

He did score on his debut for Braga though when just 17 years and two months old back in May 2017 as part of a 4-0 victory over Nacional.

However, the teenage winger ultimately failed to make a significant impact at Lazio, and only went on to play in 5 senior matches for Lazio over two years.

Four of those matches came in Serie A, while the other was in the Coppa Italia in a clash with Novara that Lazio went on to win 4-1. All added together, he played just 85 minutes of senior football over the 24 months he spent in Italy.

Now, however, Benfica are looking to sign the 8-time Portugal U20 international, hopeful that, under the guidance of Bruno Lage, he will go on to be the player that many have expected him to be.

Indeed, Neto is believed to be close to making a return to Portuguese football, with Benfica expected to be paying more than the 17 million euros Lazio initially paid for him.

Portuguese superagent Jorge Mendes is the man who has been negotiating the movement of Neto, having overseen the deal that took both him and fellow Portuguese teenager Bruno Jordao to Lazio from Braga for a combined 26 million euros in the summer of 2017.

That deal in itself seemed highly unusual, with the money spent on both players combined seemingly far more than they were actually worth - and it seems even stranger that one of them is set to return to Benfica for a similar fee.

The deal is set to make Neto Benfica’s second most expensive signing in history, ahead of Rafa Silva and just behind Raul Jimenez.