The Portuguese press have been given reason to be excited. Barcelona had a scout at the match between Benfica and Nacional at the weekend, and that’s given all kinds of possibilities about a Manchester United and Barca transfer battle, or even two.
A few days ago it was reported in Portugal that Manchester United have an agreement in principle to sign Nelson Semedo from Benfica for £35m in the summer, that’s a little over €40m.
Spanish newspaper Sport say Barcelona’s main objective when scouting Benfica was Semedo, but they also mentioned the reported agreed deal with Manchester United. Sport said Lindelof and goalkeeper Ederson are also names doing the rounds at Barcelona.
The Catalan club are said, by O Jogo, to see the prices of the two defenders as excessive, thinking there are other options in the market who are better priced. However, Sport think that Semedo would likely keep his options open, and they always believe, all things being equal, that any player would pick Barcelona first.
The idea of a battle between Manchester United and Barcelona for the players is one which will surely keep popping up in the Portuguese media, if Barca continue to scout.
