Blues Linked With Late Florentino Move
Friday, 31st Jul 2026 09:57

Town and Fulham are reported to have joined Hull City in chasing Burnley midfielder Florentino Luis.

A move to the Tigers appeared all but done, however, the Blues and Cottagers are understood to have made late approaches for the 26-year-old.

Florentino has been left out of the Clarets’ last two friendlies, although he watched Wednesday night’s 2-2 draw with Espanyol at Turf Moor.

Afterwards manager Nicky Hayen was asked about the former Benfica man’s situation.

“Florentino, of course, there’s a lot of interest in him. We’ll see what the next days will bring as a result,” he told the Burnley Express.

Following the weekend game against Ajax, Hayen had admitted the defensive midfielder had been left out in order to avoid a fitness issue ahead of a move, which at the time appeared certain to be to Hull.

“That’s possible [that his exit is imminent],” he said. “We didn’t want to take the risk with Tino for having an injury, so we gave him the days for the club to take care of that.

“We will see in the upcoming days what it will be. But we know there is an offer and we'll see what happens in the next few days.”

Florentino joined Burnley on loan from Benfica, where he came through the youth system, last summer with the move made permanent for a fee of €24 million (£20.6 million) at the end of last season due to an obligation in the deal.

Born in Lobito, Angola, six-foot tall Florentino made 25 starts and six sub appearances for the Lancastrians last season.

During his time with Benfica, he won two Primeira Liga titles, featured in the Champions League and won Portuguese caps at U15 to U21 levels. He also spent time on loan at Monaco and Getafe.

The Blues are currently very short on central midfielders, particularly with Azor Matusiwa and Jack Taylor, who is a target of Birmingham City and other Championship clubs, unlikely to be involved in any pre-season games following their end-of-season operations.

Youngsters Fin Barbrook and Charlie Compton were involved in the last two friendlies, while Chieo Ogbene was utilised out of position against Osasuna on Wednesday evening.

Photo: Imago Images Sports

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Litfc00 added 10:01 - Jul 31 Florentino profiles very similarly to Matusiwa - Lots of ball winning / out of possession value but doesn’t offer much in possession. Don’t mind it as long as Florentino / Matusiwa are paired with someone who can carry / pass well.
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Wickets added 10:02 - Jul 31 Get him in the team for tomorrow!!
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BobbyBell added 10:03 - Jul 31 Interesting but we've probably gone in too late on this one.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 10:05 - Jul 31 Litfc00: Yes, he's primarily defensive, which in itself wouldn't be a bad thing. But as you say, we also need some offensive midfield action. Looks as though we are in the hunt at least for further upgrades, so that's positive.
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jas0999 added 10:11 - Jul 31 Good player. Probably need three central midfielders if Taylor does depart.
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Benji1611 added 10:12 - Jul 31 If we're hijacking Hull again, I hope we go for Nobel Mendy as well
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Northstandveteran added 10:15 - Jul 31 Must we compete with Hull for every signing?
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Guthrum added 10:27 - Jul 31

Northstandveteran - it's inevitable. Hull and ourselves, plus some of thelower-end established Prem sides like Fulham, are fishing in the same pool. The best prospects will be pursued by everybody.

If anything, it's a confirmation we're on the right track.

What surprises me is that Coventry are not being linked more often as well (tho, in this instance, they already have Onyeka).

tractorboybig added 10:38 - Jul 31 Another not prem standard player
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billlm added 10:41 - Jul 31 Where do hull get there money from, We've had rich owners and one trip to the premiership before, Shouldn't we be swimming in a bigger pool than them or are they going all in and deal with the fall out later, I find it disappointing were not one level up on hull,
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cressi added 10:43 - Jul 31 Underwhelming
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rickw added 10:47 - Jul 31 Looks to be a carbon copy of Matusiwa but will cost us 3 times as much and I can't see either being happy as backup for the other
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FrimleyBlue added 10:55 - Jul 31 ah, back to the akpom scenario where we've ran out of targets so picking see someone joining a rival so lets stop it before they do
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muccletonjoe added 11:03 - Jul 31 Getting desperate now. Unless we are willing to pay big money 30 million+ we are going to get no improvemrnts
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AbujaBlue added 11:12 - Jul 31 Rickw that's true but Matusiwa was exhausted by the end of last season. He needs a capable backup and vice versa.
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Ipswichbusiness added 11:23 - Jul 31 Remember that over the last couple of seasons Burnley have been set up to play very defensively so it is not surprising that it should show in his statistics.
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bluesissy added 11:24 - Jul 31 Desperation springs to mind....bottom feeding with hull city is not a good look...
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StowTractor added 11:28 - Jul 31 billm what I've seen is that he has a clause in his contract allowing him to go on loan to a PL club, which was probably the route Hull were ging down. Imagine we will offer a permanent deal to take a play off Burnley's books that they were forced to buy under the obligation, but who doesn't want to play in the championship.
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billlm added 11:32 - Jul 31 StowTractor, didn't know that sounds a bit better,
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winst added 11:36 - Jul 31 From a Burnley colleague on him......Not for us anyway. Some fans called him Floaterino. Think we paid £15m-ish for him from Benfica, CL experience but rarely lived up to the hype.
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Powrigan added 11:42 - Jul 31 This is the sort of signing that got us relegated last time. We need to sign better.
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Bazza8564 added 12:02 - Jul 31 Powrigan. Is it? Didn't we sign Phillips and Cajuste who were injured when they arrived? Can you clarify what you mean by "better", we have to keep in mind the pool of PL players we are able to attract is very limited by whoever wants to actually come here?
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TimmyH added 12:03 - Jul 31 How comes we seem to be in for the same players Hull are going for?...coming from Burnley doesn't fill me with optimism.
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PositivelyPortman added 12:07 - Jul 31 What a miserable bunch of posts on here regarding Florentino. Probably 95% of us on here have never played for even a semi pro side, let alone for a league side. I’m also included in that group, but why do you all come down on a player when you’ve probably never even a football scout or seen him play?
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cressi added 12:20 - Jul 31 P/Portman it's not miserable it's honesty.i remember last time we got relegated from the premiership we bought players top end of the championship a relegation on their CV or failed a medical elsewhere or had hardly played in three yrs. We need better.
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