Benfica closing in on breaking their club record transfer fee to sign Darwin Núñez

Benfica are looking set to smash their transfer record by bringing in highly rated 21-year old striker Darwin Núñez from Spanish second division outfit UD Almeria.

Núñez has been of considerable interest this summer, with many English Premier League outfits interested in his services, including Sheffield United, Brighton and Hove Albion and Southampton, while Inter Milan were also said to be looking at the Uruguayan forward.

However, it is Benfica who are set to complete the signing of the young star, willing to spend in the region of 24 million euros for his services, while it is also expected that one player will also head to Almeria from Benfica to sweeten the deal.

Almeria had previously hoped to bring in Diogo Goncalves as part of the deal, but Jorge Jesus and Benfica swiftly rejected, keen on keeping the young Portuguese, who had such a successful season out on loan at Famalicao last season.

That fee will set a new record spend on one player for Benfica, which was previously Raul Jimenez, who was signed in 2015 for around 22 million euros.

Nunez had a tremendous season last campaign, scoring 16 goals in 32 league outings as he led his side to 4th in the standings and the promotion play-offs, where they lost in the semi-final to Girona.

Though he was only playing in the Spanish second tier, his quality has constantly been on show, and he is a far better player than his league standing would suggest, having joined Almeria from Uruguayan giants Penarol for just short of 5 million euros last summer.

He has already played once for Uruguay, coming on as a late substitute against Peru in a friendly, scoring the equaliser.