Vitor Eduardo da Silva Matos, or Vitao, the 24-year-old Internacional centre-back is likely to join Real Betis in the near future.

Spanish outlet Ufabet reported on Tuesday that Real Betis are close to signing Internacional’s 24-year-old centre-back Vitor Eduardo da Silva Matos, or Vitao, for around €8 million.

Real Betis are looking to bolster their defence in addition to the signing of Spanish centre-back Diego Llorente from Leeds United, with the Betis in talks with Internacional to sign Vitao, while also holding talks with Napoli over a loan move for 23-year-old centre-back Natan Bernardo de Souza with an option to make the move permanent.

Real Betis are reportedly in talks with Internacional to find a way to pay the player plus bonuses rather than the full €8m fee, with an agreement expected soon.

Vitalik has previous experience playing in Europe ยูฟ่าเบท, having joined Shakhta Donetsk from Palmeiras in 2019 before being loan out to Internacional on loan in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the 24-year-old signing permanently with the Brazilian club.

At the other end of the pitch, they may have to rethink matters though, with Ayoze Perez set to join Villarreal this week. The Euro 2024-winner has a €4m release clause, and on Monday Betis President Angel Haro admitted that they were unable to match the Yellow Submarine’s contract offer for the 31-year-old. Betis will look for a forward after the deal for a defender is seal.

Currently Manuel Pellegrini only has Marc Bartra and Diego Llorente as options at centre-back, so he would no doubt be keen to have both of the Brazilians through the door, after losing starting pairing German Pezzella and Luiz Felipe in the space of 12 months. Meanwhile up front Chimy Avila and Cedric Bakambu are their only natural number nines, although the former much prefers to play with another forward too.