Town Favourites to Sign Florentino
Sunday, 2nd Aug 2026 13:23

Town look strong favourites to sign Burnley midfielder Florentino Luis with Hull City having given up the chase.

The Blues and Fulham were reported to have made late moves for Florentino with his switch to the Tigers having looked a fait accompli earlier in the week.

And yesterday, Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic revealed Florentino is now expected to join another club.

“I think that he will not come to us,” he told Hull Live. “I think that he will go to another club, though I don’t know which one.

“His move, I believe, will be a permanent transfer, so we don’t have a chance with that because we want to loan him from Burnley. This is his decision and his family, which I respect.

“We have some options, so we will activate our second option now, so I hope we will finish it.”

Florentino will not be joining Fulham, according to some Cottagers sources, which would appear to leave the way open for the Blues to complete the signing.

The 26-year-old 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 have started friendlies, while Chieo Ogbene and Sindre Walle Egeli have been utilised out of position to cover.

Florentino looks to be one of two moves which the Blues are currently progressing with former loanee Julio Enciso understood to be keen on a return to Portman Road and a reunion with Gary O’Neil, who was his manager at Strasbourg in the second half of last season.

Discussions regarding what’s believed to be a permanent switch are ongoing.

Photo: Imago Images Sports

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John_Grose added 13:29 - Aug 2 Well we certainly need someone and he is an improvement on what we have, is he what we want, possibly not but given options I think he could be a good signing
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Bazza8564 added 13:29 - Aug 2 Good, we need CMF as a priority. This fella is widely experienced and at 26 has plenty left in the tank. There will still be some who expect us to be signing higher profile players, all I will say in response is that they were the same who said "who?" when we signed Azor Matusiwa a year ago.
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Radlett_blue added 13:30 - Aug 2 A 26 years old defensive midfield player with PL experience - what's not to like?
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John_Grose added 13:31 - Aug 2 Also, I missed the Enciso news, that would be exciting as he definitely offers a goal threat
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Gforce added 13:32 - Aug 2 Have to admit, I know very little about him,hopefully our scouts have done their homework and he can help take us to the next level.
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trevski_s added 13:47 - Aug 2

Im in two minds about this one. I will hold my hands up and be happy to be proven wrong as the guy does admittingly have some great experience with both Benfica and European football. Just worried about how much we are potentially going to pay for him considering if Burnley have just signed him they will be wanting to recuperate how much they paid. I do reckon Matusiwa would give the Premier League a good go and who knows, O'Neil might want to go with 2 defensively minded midfielders together considering the main goal this season is survival and midfield is def one we need to invest in. Of course I will welcome all signings and looking forward to the nest few weeks to see who is coming through the door

billlm added 13:53 - Aug 2 Trevski_s, we will need two, as good and a joy matusiwa was last season he was getting burnt out, He needs help,
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Bazza8564 added 13:54 - Aug 2 Trevski, great points, there will be some games where the 2 CMF will be defensive. I'm less worried about the fee, we have the resources , and we will need cover with at least two defensive midfielders given injury and suspensions which go with the territory for this position
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Bluearmy_81 added 13:58 - Aug 2 Taylor is not prem quality, his place needs strengthening as a priority
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trevski_s added 13:58 - Aug 2

@billm oh I do agree as much as a machine Matusiwa was, he needs someone to help relieve him at times (we all need a rest every now and then) and especially at the rate he was initially getting booked in the first half of the season, with VAR back he is probably more likely to pick up cards plus with his surgery he might not be quite the same as before. Thats why I said I was in two minds. Would be happy to switch between them (or partner them), I just really think Matusiwa is one that has earned an opportunity at the Premier League considering how dependable he was and how much he improved/adapted to English football very quickly

Stato added 14:00 - Aug 2 hopefully we have paid something like £15m plus £5m in add oons mostly built around us staying up
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eirannach_gorm added 14:04 - Aug 2 The concern regarding paying too much is very much a minor concern especially as our midfield is threadbare and would struggle in the Championship. When people are looking at Cam Humphreys as an option shows how desperate we are. It's unfortunate for him that we require 'oven ready midfielders.'
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jas0999 added 14:07 - Aug 2 The guy clearly has pedigree. You don’t play for Benfica and be part of a team winning titles unless you have something about you. Seems a clear upgrade on Taylor and a good complement to Azor.
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ernie added 14:08 - Aug 2 Looks like a bit of a punt. Unfortunate for us that we seem to be competing with Hull for similar standards of player.
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guentchev123 added 14:08 - Aug 2 Can’t be viewed as anything other than a good signing for what we require. A strong, physical CM with both Premier League and Champions League experience. He is probably not going to set the world on fire but our CM’s main requirement this season will be to protect the defence and try and get the ball into our attacking players.
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IndependentlyBlue added 14:18 - Aug 2 Ernie -‘bit of a punt’? The guy’s got Prem and CL experience. Don’t get why it’s unfortunate that we’re competing with Hull for players, they’re in the same league as us and can probably pay the same level of wages. Lot of clubs in the Prem that we can’t compete with
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muccletonjoe added 14:22 - Aug 2 I saw a couple of games at turf Moor last season. This guy , the locals thought was improving all the while. I thought he was a battler for sure, strong lad.
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Mariner1974 added 14:53 - Aug 2

Strange one this one...
Didn't see much from him anytime I saw him play for Burnley. Made some impulsive challenges/ deicsions (might have inherited it from Muric when he left).
Maybe just struggled a little with the players around him and the premier league players he was facing.
Certainly need more defensive midfield help, just hoped we'd uncover a French African gem playing in Europe somewhere... still time.

BlueMoon added 14:56 - Aug 2 Not normally keen on the same cohort of players from recently relegated to promoted teams. That being said it’s where we are now and we are short of quality in the middle. I’m generally a fan of Taylor but if we can flog him to Birmingham for half decent money and get this guy in then it’s all steps in the right direction.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 14:59 - Aug 2 Hopefully this guy will come good if we do sign him. As someone said above, we are not likely to be signing the very top class players. But if Florentino comes in, works hard, and maybe even develops further given the right set-up, then this could be a good move.
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dyersdream added 15:05 - Aug 2 The new Rakheem Harper
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Lukeybluey added 15:07 - Aug 2 I wonder if Nunez will play in the 8 role? If we were to sign Enciso, I'd imagine he would play in the 10, maybe Nunez plays as the 8 position, and covers for 10...? We probably need at least two or maybe three centre mids..
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ITFCSG added 15:35 - Aug 2 Underwhelming. I’d rather get Lukic from Fulham Club obviously haven’t learnt their lesson from signing players from relegated clubs. If he was so fantastic Burnley wouldn’t have gone down - and he wasn’t even like some standout player for them last season
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ivandeighton added 15:40 - Aug 2 Why are we signing player's from relegated club's that's what happened last time and got relegated
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 15:47 - Aug 2 Burnley Express columnist wasn't very complimentary about him. If he does sign we just have to hope GON gets more out of him
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