Jainil Shah
Manchester United eye club-record Joao Neves transfer
Manchester United may splash a princely price of £100 million for Portuguese midfielder Joao Neves with the backing of new Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
It is believed the Red Devils will re-equip the midfield in the upcoming summer transfer window as they make do with a Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo duo with the latter linked with a move away from Old Trafford. Irrespective of whether the Brazilian leaves or not, the long-term future of Christian Eriksen and Scott McTominay is still ambiguous and the potential arrival of Neves can mean a further deflation in their pecking order.
According to a report by The Mirror, Joao Neves will expectedly see an abundance of attention from other European sides in the upcoming summer transfer window.
The 19-year-old has been likened to former PSG midfield orchestrator Marco Verratti. Despite his young age, Neves plays with a mature head.
Alongside Manchester United, the likes of Barcelona and Manchester City have also expressed interest. The Red Devils have sent their scouts to Benfica multiple times and tried to open talks with Benfica in January.
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva spoke about his liking for Joao Neves to join the Blues over United, trying to pull some strings to corroborate his statement.
“For City instead of United? If I can, I will pull strings to Joao Neves to go to Man City. I’d like to see João joining City instead of Man United, of course.”
When the 19-year-old was quizzed about his future at Benfica and whether he would remain at the club after the next transfer window, he reiterated his commitment but would not speak about whether or not he would stay.
Joao Neves said in a press conference last month ahead of his team’s Europa League clash against Toulouse when asked about his future at the club,
“I promise to do my best in every training session, in every game, and I think that is one of my greatest qualities. I’m focused on Benfica and even more so on [Thursday’s] game, which is the next one. I think I will do my best in every game and in every training session.”
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The Reds from Manchester are looking at a club record fee if they were to bring the defensive midfielder to Old Trafford, although it is to be seen if the pharma billionaire will approve such humungous transfer fees for one player.
