Manchester United have watched a good number of Belenenses matches this season, a Portuguese club they don’t have a strong record of sending scouts to.
Earlier it had been easy to assume the reason was Joel Pereira, with the Manchester United goalkeeper on loan at the club. Pereira has now returned and so it was surprising to see Manchester United on the list of spies attending Moreirense’s 1-0 victory over Belenenses last night.
Given that Manchester United don’t scout the club as a matter of routine, someone looks to have caught the eye whilst Pereira was being monitored, or perhaps was the target of attention all along.
This is just us speculating, but the target may well be Fabio Sturgeon. The 22 year old attacking midfielder has been receiving praise this season in Portugal and has long been considered a talented youngster.
In December, Manchester United had someone watch Belenenses against Estoril, and Sturgeon was Man of the Match.
A little bit of digging shows Jose Mourinho, who came through Belenenses’ youth system and played a season with the club, has been linked with Sturgeon previously. During the manager’s last spell at Chelsea the Portuguese press covered the interest.
At the time Chelsea were scouting Belenenses, and it’s not something they’ve a track record of doing since Mourinho left.
The youngster has an English father, which has probably helped encourage links to English clubs previously, and, just like Mourinho, Sturgeon is from the Setubal area and came through the Belenenses academy system.
Despite his young age, Sturgeon has played around a hundred games for Belenenses. His current contract runs until June 2018, giving the club a nudge to renew or sell.
Manchester United were the only English club with a scout at the match.
