Gabriel Barbosa’s agent Wagner Ribeiro has denied that Manchester United are interested in the player.
In contact with Globo Esporte, the representative said The Sun’s article is “only a speculation”, just like we guessed this morning.
The Sun had claimed: ‘However SunSport can reveal Jose Mourinho is now in pole position to land the Samba superkid, with United set to push through a whopping £30million deal within the next 48 hours to outmuscle the reigning champions.’
Leicester City are still said to be winning the auction for the striker, as they offer €27m for him. Globo Esporte’s article says Atletico Madrid are ready to raise their bid to €25m, and Inter Milan and Juventus showed they can pay €25m and €20m, respectively.
They say Leicester and Atletico have the advantage because Gabigol prefers to play in England or Spain. Juventus were not ruled out because they’d accept to have the player only in January. Inter are the club who offered the bigger salary, showing they could pay more than £250k per month.
PSG have made an approach, but are still to make an offer. Barcelona have a priority to buy him, and although they never seemed interested in making a deal, they must be warned in the case Santos accept any bids.
Santos only have the right to receive the €18m from the player’s release clause, so all these extra millions are being pushed to Gabigol and his agent.
The player’s decision is expected to be made by the end of the Olympics.
