Man United representatives have flown to Portugal as they bid to beat Chelsea to the signing of Sporting Lisbon’s William Carvalho. The Red Devils have been linked with a move for the midfielder for most of the summer so far, but recently the Blues have also entered the race to sign him.
Van Gaal encountered a stumbling block when Lisbon asked for £30m – an amount the new United boss is not willing to pay. He also doesn’t want to meet the player’s buy-out clause. The Old Trafford side are, however, optimistic that a deal can be struck and they are willing to offer more than the £11m and a player on loan, that Chelsea have offered.
Plus, reports from Portugal claim that Sporting Lisbon would much rather do business with Man United because of the two clubs previous negotiations with the transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani in the past. Last week, Carvalho had this to say about his club future:
“Will I stay at Sporting? I don’t know. I’m going back to Portugal and then we’ll see.”
It’s believed that the player will meet with Sporting president Bruno De Carvalho early next week to clarify his future and with representatives from the Red Devils on their way to Portugal, it looks like Old Trafford may be where Carvalho’s future lies.
By Charlie Gregory
@CharlieGLFC
