It’s with quite a bit of surprise that the Brazilian media took Manchester City’s reported interest in the São Paulo youngster Éder Militão today.
As written by the Daily Mail, Pep Guardiola would be targeting the defender for the next summer window, as the club are ready to pay the £20m the player is worth.
Manchester City would also have competition from Porto, whose interest had already been reported by the Portuguese press some weeks ago.
Militão has been doing well for São Paulo, having started 23 games for the club this year. The youngster has come from their academy, and slowly got his place in the first team.
But despite showing some good potential, it’s not like Manchester City are targeting a new Gabriel Jesus. That’s why it still sounds like too much money for a 20-year-old.
Another fact that makes City’s attempt strange is the player’s contract situation with São Paulo. The Brazilian club has been struggling to convince Militão to sign a new deal, with his current one expiring in January.
It means that City can get him on a pre-contract in the summer window, which wouldn’t be unlikely, since any Brazilian kid would like to join Pep Guardiola’s side by now.
So why would the Premier League side offer that much money for the youngster? Is it to avoid competition? Because we’re sure São Paulo would take less than that, especially with his contract coming to an end.
Brazilian outlet Lance also reports that São Paulo haven’t received any kind of contact from Manchester City so far. They also report that the negotiations for a new contract have been stalled since the start of the year.
Put 2 + 2 together and it’s no secret that Manchester City’s alleged interest would favour Militão in the contract negotiations, as São Paulo would obviously want to tie him up before negotiating with an European side.
And although the Daily Mail calls Militão a defender who can also play in midfield, the player has mostly started in the right-back position this season.
Perhaps Guardiola should take note.
