Club want to resist Manchester United ‘blackmail’ – Red Devils not offering enough for transfer

Record have an interesting Alex Telles column in their Sunday edition, from the newspaper’s chief editor Vitor Pinto.

FC Porto’s president Pinto da Costa has decided to keep the player and has already informed manager Sérgio Conceição that Telles will be available for upcoming matches.

Manchester United have been linked with the Brazilian in recent weeks, with the story being they’re not prepared to go near what Porto are asking for the fullback.

Given Telles’ contract expires in less than a year, the Old Trafford club went in with an initial offer of €10m, not high enough for the Portuguese club. In a ‘subsequent onslaught’ the English club ‘showed no signs of intending’ to go beyond €15m, all the while putting pressure on Porto due to the possibility of a future free transfer.

However, Da Costa doesn’t want to give in to the ‘blackmail’ from Manchester United and the player’s agent, Pini Zahavi. There’s a worry that if they caved in, Porto would lose their reputation of being tough negotiators in the transfer market, so it could cost them in future windows.

The Liga NOS side don’t want to ‘compromise their dignity’, with the suggestion being that if they accepted what United are offering it would weaken their status as a big European club.

Record make it sound like this transfer is dead, and it’ll take some effort from the Premier League side to change things.