Newcastle United have approached Benfica to sound out the possibility of a move for 21-year-old left-back Nuno Tavares this summer, according to Portuguese outlet Record.

If the signals are positive, the report claimed that Newcastle could soon progress to the bidding stage, with Burnley and Napoli also named as interested parties.

Tavares has an €88m (£76m) release clause in his contract at the Estadio da Luz but the club are apparently open to a €30m (£25.9m) sale.

How has Nuno Tavares done at Benfica this season?

The Portuguese defender should be viewed as a star of the future. He has been eased into the Benfica first team, starting only five Liga NOS matches this season and making a further six appearances off the bench.

He was also handed a five-minute runout in the second leg of their Europa League defeat to Arsenal last month.

According to WhoScored, Tavares excels at crossing, chance creation and blocking the ball.

He has been labelled 'one of the fastest players in the whole Portuguese league' and is tipped to go on to become one of the best in Europe (via talkSPORT).

Intriguingly, Benfica have been linked with Wolves' Ruben Vinagre, who is only a year older than Tavares. If they can strike that deal, then they may not stand in his way.

Transfer Tavern verdict

Tavares looks an excellent prospect, and £25.9m sounds like a more than reasonable fee. However, it's difficult to see Newcastle shelling out that much on a left-back, particularly if Mike Ashley remains in his post.

A return for Jetro Willems, valued at a mere £2.7m by Transfermarkt, might be more realistic given the soundbytes of austerity in recent months surrounding Newcastle's transfer budget.

In other news, a football finance expert has offered his verdict on the 1892 Pledge.