£35m target puts on show for Chelsea, Mourinho confirms he's chasing him

Jose Mourinho was aghast recently when Jorge Jesus suggested that he'd been economical with the truth about interest in Talisca. Benfica signed the 20 year old Brazilian in the summer and heralded his arrival as that of a unknown, a rough gem which Benfica had found in South America before anyone else had awoken to his existence.
Mourinho didn't agree with that and made it clear that Talisca was certainly a name known to him, speaking in Portugal (picked up by Record) about the player when asked for ones to watch this season in Liga Sagres "I think Benfica hired well... They say Talisca is unknown, but he is so unknown that he's only not playing in England because of a work permit. If he had, he was here! There were many Englishmen, great teams and important, they wanted. Moreover, there were those who wanted to hire, even though he could not play for now. wanted to hire, put in a minor league and hope that eventually came to the selection, and then get the work permit."
That led to Record claiming that Mourinho had wanted to buy Talisca in the summer and loan him out to Vitesse. It was no surprise given the Chelsea manager's comments but the choice of the Dutch club was perhaps something of an educated guess.
Benfica manager Jesus wasn't happy with Mourinho comments and said "Talisca is a young star and that Benfica came first once again demonstrates the quality in what we do... they knew Talisca how I knew D'Artagnan."
In turn Mourinho snapped back "I think he's close to D'Artagnan, lives and reads Alexandre Dumas, and I admire him for that. I confine myself to my identity, I do not read Dumas. I have a different life."
All very entertaining and excellent publicity for the works of Dumas, perhaps more pointedly it showed how closely Mourinho had been watching Talisca. Record have explained previously that Talisca has a buyout clause at Benfica of £35m/€40m but that's seen more as a protection, Chelsea could probably buy him for less.
Mourinho and Jesus have done the media equivalent of kissing and making up and their spat was never really seen as something serious, or something which would damage relations between Chelsea and Benfica.
Whilst the circus has been playing out, Talisca himself has been getting on with things and putting on a show for all interested clubs including Chelsea. The Premier League leaders have watched Talisca in action at least once this season for Benfica and he's been impressing generally. 
The Brazilian scored Benfica's first goal on Sunday in a 4-0 victory over Arouca and continued an impressive scoring streak which has impressed Jorge Jesus. Mourinho's comments will see Talisca highlighted more than most, by both the Portuguese and British media, but the youngster's performances on the pitch are writing headlines themselves