It was Spanish website Todo Fichajes who first reported Manchester United’s interest in Benfica striker Carlos Vinícius at the weekend.
According to their story, the clubs were in advanced talks for the 25-year-old, and the Red Devils could offer up to €40m to sign him.
Given how big this transfer would be, Portuguese sports newspapers A Bola, Record and O Jogo all have articles on this rumour today. But none of them is sounding really confident about the move.
Record writes that ‘despite the interest’, Manchester United are still to ‘make it formal’. They also claim that the uncertainty regarding the future of the Premier League will make clubs very cautious about their investments.
The outlet points out that Liverpool have also been interested in the Brazilian, and Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira has previously claimed that he can get an amount of €100m, which is the value of the player’s release clause.
O Jogo claims that Benfica are planning to keep Carlos Vinícius at the club for at least one more season, and the Eagles have actually not received any offers for the player yet.
Even though the striker joined Benfica in a €17m from Napoli at the start of the season, O Jogo says the Eagles are already planning to offer him a new contract, given how good his first season has been.
He has 20 goals and 12 assists in 36 appearances.
Newspaper A Bola, which is usually a good source for these rumours, doesn’t bring any information of their own. They have a big story only crediting the Spanish press, which is uncommon, but understandable given that there’s not been a lot of football to talk about these days.
