Who is this gifted €30m teenager on Arsenal and Tottenham’s radar? The next great Portuguese star?

Arsenal and Tottenham Opinion: Scout report on Joao Filipe (Jota)

The Telegraph and Portuguese news outlet A Bola have reported that both Arsenal and Tottenham are monitoring highly-rated Benfica starlet Joao Filipe.

The 19-year-old only made his senior debut recently, but still remains one of the club’s most promising talents. While Jota has made his mark in a Benfica senior shirt, it’s really with the reserves and the U19 squad that the Portuguese starlet has shone.

Eerily similar to Cristiano Ronaldo, the teenager has yet to make his mark for his country. He has, however, played for Portugal at every youth level, including appearances for the U19s, U17s and even the U20s.

It was with the U19s where the hype around Jota began to spread, when he finished as the joint top-scorer in the U19 European Championships last summer.

Here is everything you need to know about the youngster

Scout Report – Joao Filipe (Jota)

Current Club – Benfica

Age – 19

Position – Forward

The Euro U19 finals were a great time for scouts but no other country enjoyed it more than Portugal and few players enjoyed as much as Jota did. While the youngster did initially struggle to make an impact, he eventually made his mark.

Five goals, including two in both the semi-finals and finals saw the young Benfica starlet announce himself to the world. It was a simply incredible display, with the Portuguese star bamboozling defenders with his speed and incisiveness.

Wonderful to watch, it was an incredible display from a footballer who was yet to make his senior debut for either club or country. Since then, Jota has simply grown from strength to strength this season, eventually making his debut for Benfica.

A versatile player, the teenager can play as a left-winger or as a central striker, where he combines his pace and agility to lethal effects.

Furthermore, while Jota isn’t the strongest player around, he is still very difficult to take the ball from, and has a wide array of tricks and flicks at his disposal.

He isn’t afraid to have a shot on goal, cutting inside before stunning defenders with a long-range effort. What does make him unpredictable is the fact, that like Ousmane Dembele, he is ambidextrous and uses both feet extremely well.

It allows him to play on either wing, where Jota either cuts in or hugs the flank to create chances for his teammates. All this just adds up to someone with great potential and more importantly, a talented teenager who has only just started his journey.

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Conclusion

But that in itself spells trouble for Benfica. That is beacuse the Telegraph has reported that Jota has a €30 million release clause in his contract. While his contract does expire in 2022, the release clause has given both Arsenal and Tottenham a chance, with other sides bound to enter at some point in the near future.