Sporting Lisbon will not negotiate with Manchester United target Gonçalo Inácio – Man United News And Transfer News

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Manchester United are finding that fishing in Portuguese waters is proving very expensive this summer.

Despite the uncertainty over the managerial role at Old Trafford, plans to strengthen on the pitch are clearly in place, with defense and midfield among the biggest priorities.

Near the top of United’s wish lists in those areas are stars who ply their trade in Portugal, including defenders Gonçalo Inácio and Antonio Silva and midfielders João Neves and Martin Hjulmand.

This morning we published a report from this morning’s paper edition of Correio de Manhã which claimed that Sporting chiefs had struck a deal with manager Ruben Amorim not to sell Hjulmand this summer under any circumstances unless respected his release clause of 80 million euros.

another outlet, Recordconfirm their story this morning, but say the deal to sell just for the buyout clause extends to all the Lions’ crown jewels, including Inácio, whose own buyout figure is €60m (just over €50m pounds).

This is not as big a hammer blow as Hjulmand’s figure, as it still places Inácio within Ineos’ ‘£60m or less’ policy for this summer.

However, it’s still a sizeable chunk for a left-handed centre-back when the priority is a right-handed one to replace Raphael Varane.

If Lisandro Martinez stays fit, it’s hard to see him being dropped, so signing Inácio would mean doing it as a back-up or playing one of the two left-backs on the right.

There is also the matter of competition from Liverpool, whose interest in Inácio is said to be “concrete”, seeing him as the new Virgil van Dijk.

Meanwhile, however, other names on the centre-back shortlist are proving just as expensive, with Everton apparently holding out for £75m for Jarrad Branthwaite and Benfica also playing hard for Antonio Silva, news on that to follow here soon.

The Lisbon clubs clearly did not read the room this summer when they placed such high and inflexible prices for their top stars. There simply isn’t the money at any of Europe’s top clubs to come close to the kinds of figures they are asking for.

Of course, it’s normal for Portuguese sides to do a lot of press at this stage in the summer, and it could very well be that a deal is eventually struck with Sporting for both Inácio and Hjulmand, which falls well below optimistic demand. prices being discussed at this stage.

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