Who is Victor Lindelof – the Man United-bound centre-half?

Manchester United may have spent in excess of £150m on transfers back in the summer, but they could be set to take their tally for the season to over £200m with the seemingly inevitable arrival of Benfica defender Victor Lindelof in January.

The 22-year-old is now a 1/3 shot to move to Old Trafford next month, after reports suggesting United had begun negotiations with the Portuguese outfit over the sale of the centre-half had been confirmed by Sky Sports News.

But just who is Lindelof – the man estimated to be worth around £40m?

Signed by Benfica from Swedish club Vasteras SK in 2012, the Swede has only recently broke into Rui Vitoria’s first-team plans at Estadio da Luz.

He spent his first season with the club playing for Benfica’s second-team, but it was the following year which saw him make his senior debut for Aguias.

33 solid performances for Benfica II in that campaign were rewarded with a debut in a 2-1 defeat to Porto back on the final day of the season, after Benfica had already won the Primeira Liga title.

But the Portuguese giants didn’t rush a then-20-year-old Lindelof into the first team on a permanent basis. Instead, he spent another year with Benfica II, featuring in 41 of the side’s 46 league games as they finished four points off top-spot in the Segunda Liga.

As well as notching up 11 clean sheets that season, Lindelof also showed he could be a real threat from set-pieces, scoring two goals.

Last season, the defender found himself involved with the senior team much more regularly, featuring 15 times as Benfica went on to win their third successive league title.

And so far this season, he’s played 13 of Benfica’s 14 league matches, with international duty keeping him out of that one line-up.

That’s a stage Lindelof has taken to excellently, too, with 11 senior caps already under his belt for Sweden, including three at last summer’s European Championship.

His development has been slow and steady, Benfica have made sure of that. But Victor Lindelof is fast becoming one of the hottest properties in world football.

And with United clearly happy to spend whatever it takes to secure his services, we could well be seeing a defensive shake-up at Old Trafford for the second-half of this campaign.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing