There has been some interesting developments in Portugal today in relation to Benfica star and reported Chelsea target Nemanja Matic as O Jogo claim that the player did not want to travel with the team for their huge match against Porto today.
It won’t be too long before we find out if these reports are true or not as the game will kick-off at 4pm, so we should see the team line-ups around an hour before then and if Matic is omitted then it might throw weight behind the story that the midfielder is due to return to Stamford Bridge.
O Jogo also claim that the player will be confirmed as a Chelsea player on Monday whilst other reports suggest that there is to be a formal presentation on Tuesday.
The Serbian has allegedly agreed terms with Chelsea to return to West London and I have heard a few rumours suggesting that he was promised by Benfica that he will be allowed to go in early January but is frustrated that they have delayed the deal so that he can play in what is the biggest match of the season so far.
Matic could be forgiven for his dissatisfaction ordinarily if promises were broken and he wouldn’t want to risk injury ahead of any move he may make this January but there’s more to it that just being a big clash between Benfica and Porto as it’s also a tribute to the great Eusébio, who died last week, at the Estádio da Luz today, so it will not look good on Matic if he has refused to feature.
The 26-year-old left Chelsea as part of the deal that brought David Luiz to the club back in the January of 2011 and is said to be keen on reuniting with his former club this year. Benfica logged him as a £4m transfer on their books so if the Blues were to bring him back for anything between the reported figures of €21m-35m then it will raise a few eyebrows but Jose Mourinho won’t care if he believes he has the right man.
