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Benfica’s João Felix
Benfica’s João Felix celebrates after he scored the fourth of his side’s 10 goals against Nacional. Photograph: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images
Benfica’s João Felix celebrates after he scored the fourth of his side’s 10 goals against Nacional. Photograph: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

Football transfer rumours: João Felix to Manchester United for £100m?

This article is more than 5 years old

Today’s fluff has got apple pie in the sky hopes

João Félix, the 19-year-old Benfica forward, is in the kind of form that was bound to attract somebody’s notice. In each of his last three league appearances he has scored and assisted a goal, helping his team to 5-1, 4-2 – over Sporting, no less – and 10-0 wins. And according to the Sun he has been watched “on a number of occasions” by scouts representing Manchester United, who have bought some decent Portuguese teenagers in the past and feel ready to dip their toe into that market once again. United “are looking to launch a bid in the next transfer window” and Benfica “would be willing to sell the youngster”, with the only thing standing in the way of an easy deal being the fact that As Águias value him at an eye-popping £100m. “The club went to see Félix in action and it was all positive,” an Old Trafford source tells the Sun. “He is definitely someone who is increasingly of interest.”

Manchester City meanwhile have “stepped up their pursuit of Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele”, also according to the Sun, with City determined to outbid Manchester United and Juventus for the 22-year-old, who they see as the ideal replacement for Fernandinho. They are apparently preparing a £70m offer – a case of Tanguy and cash, perhaps.

The front page of today’s Tuttosport carries the headline: “Dybala-Salah – it’s serious”, the paper suggesting that Juventus would be happy to give Liverpool €50m and Paulo Dybala in exchange for Mo Salah. The interesting and also slightly scary thing about this story, currently taking Italy by storm, is that it started right here in the Rumour Mill. On Monday Barry Glendenning reported a rumour he had picked up “on the outer reaches of cyberspace”, a suggestion that Juventus had earmarked Salah as the £175m replacement for an underperforming Dybala. Fast forward a couple of days to Wednesday, and the tale had spread its tentacles across the Apennine Peninsula. “The news broke on Monday in the Guardian, and yesterday was picked up in the Middle East, where it was reported with great prominence,” Tuttosport wrote. “Talk was of a monster offer of £175m – double the amount Juve spent to bring in Cristiano Ronaldo, who competes with Leo Messi for the title of the world’s No1. That is a figure that Juventus could obviously not pay in cash alone, which is why there is now talk of a player exchange.” This, readers, is how fake (or at least wildly unreliable) news gets started.

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This morning, however, Tuttosport double down on the story. They have done some investigating, tapped sources hopefully significantly more reliable than the Mill’s, and declare: “Its serious”. Meanwhile Corriere dello Sport report that Manchester City are ready to join the battle to sign Dybala, Ferran Soriano having been spotted in Rome when Juventus played Lazio last month. “At least at the moment Juventus do not appear willing to let him go,” they report, “but you could probably tempt them with a large offer of €100-€120m.”

Tuttosport are big on Anglo-Italian player-swap deals at the moment, also declaring that Douglas Costa is “the key” that could unlock Paul Pogba. United have already offered Juventus €60m for the Brazilian, and though Costa is officially off the market Juve might let him go if they can get Pogba in return. The Frenchman continues to agitate for a move: “He contacted Juventus and had planned his return even in January,” Tuttosport say. United “no longer seem willing to get rid of the player” but that might not stop him trying: “Although he has regained his smile at United, apparently he has not changed his mind.” Costa is also one of four players named by the Mirror among “United’s four main summer targets”, alongside Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, Fiorentina’s Nikola Milenkovic and Atlético Madrid’s Lucas Hernández.

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