Back on Tuesday, Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Notícias featured a story claiming Sporting midfielder João Palhinha has been followed by several English clubs.
A few of them had scouts at the Lions’ match against Porto a couple of weeks ago, and one of these sides were said to be Manchester United.
Now the Red Devils are back to being linked to the midfielder, this time in a story from newspaper Record, which only talks about the interest from the Old Trafford side.
It’s claimed that Manchester United ‘watch from close’ Palhinha’s evolution at Sporting, and are ‘intensifying the observation’ to decide if they’ll ‘join the fight for his purchase’.
It’s claimed that the Red Devils are looking to renew the midfield, looking for a defensive minded player. They now have a list which includes the Portuguese player and West Ham’s Declan Rice.
What makes Palhinha an attractive target is that he could leave Sporting for between €30m and €40m, while the English player is valued by the Hammers at over €100m.
In the Lions’ new agreement with their starlet, a €60m release clause was included, and there was the promise that they wouldn’t ‘cut his legs’ if a top European club showed up.
Now to land him, Manchester United better be aware of the competition, because as pointed out by Record, he’s recently been linked to the likes of Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Paris Saint Germain, Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Manchester City.
