Fotomaç have covered the claims Manchester United will again watch Anderson Talisca when Besiktas play Lyon in the Europa League quarter final on Thursday. Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is a long term admirer of Talisca, which encourages the rumours.
It’s been claimed Manchester United are showing an interest in Brazilian, but Besiktas are hoping they can convince Talisca to stay for another season. Besiktas loaned the attacking midfielder from Benfica at the start of the season for 2 years. However, there’s a clause in Talisca’s contract which says Benfica are allowed sell their player if a club tables a bid of €25m.
Besiktas president Fikret Orman has already said his objective is to sign Talisca on a permanent deal in the summer, but the €25m asking price is far too much for the Turkish club. The 23-year old is in excellent form for Besiktas this season, and his important goals are one of the reasons his side are on the verge securing back-to-back Super League titles.
Talisca’s performance against Lyon could be crucial for his career with claims Manchester United scouts, and likely others, will be watching him closely at the Vodafone Arena on Thursday.
However, it makes sense for Manchester United to scout Besiktas and Lyon regardless of any interest in players. Should Jose Mourinho’s side progress then there’s a good chance they could face one of the two clubs. The scouting is possibly, or even probably, for that reason.
In 2014 Jorges Jesus, then Benfica manager, and Mourinho, then at Chelsea, had a very public spat about who had discovered Talisca. Jesus said he’d signed the player as an ‘unknown’ for Benfica, but Mourinho stated that was nonsense, and Talisca would be playing in England if not for work permit issues.
Jesus wasn’t happy with Mourinho comments and said: “Talisca is a young star and that Benfica came first once again demonstrates the quality in what we do… they knew Talisca how I knew D’Artagnan.”
Mourinho wasn’t going to leave it there, and replied: “I think he’s close to D’Artagnan, lives and reads Alexandre Dumas, and I admire him for that. I confine myself to my identity, I do not read Dumas. I have a different life.”
There were then further claims Mourinho had wanted to sign Talisca for Chelsea, and loan him out to Vitesse. Chelsea were said to be keeping an eye on the player’s development.
