After a few weeks of silence, Manchester City are back being mentioned in a Rafael Leão story from the Portuguese press.
Ahead of the Lisbon derby, Portuguese newspaper Record has a big article explaining how the youngster could’ve been a Benfica player, but chose to play for their rivals Sporting instead.
As they obviously had to talk about his future, the outlet recalls that the player has a €45m release clause, which the Lions hope to increase to €100m as soon as possible.
The reason for it is the interest from Pep Guardiola’s side. Manchester City have been scouting the 18-year-old for the entire season, and don’t seem to be giving up on him so soon.
Record points out it’s been a great year to scout Leão, as his five games as a professional were pretty good, especially his last one, when he scored against league rivals Porto.
The newspaper doesn’t bring any news on when could Manchester City be attempting to sign him in the future.
They just make it clear that the interest is real, and Sporting will do what they can to protect their gem for now. Maybe it’s genuine worry from the club, or maybe they’ll do anything to get players’ release clause as high as possible.
