Manchester United move closer to sensational deal with talks over £60m prodigy

MANCHESTER UNITED have once again held talks with Benfica in England over teenage sensation Renato Sanches.

 

Van Gaal is reportedly keen to seal the deal before other clubs come in for the 18-year-old

 

Scouts from Old Trafford have watched the 18-year-old on multiple occasions over the last month and twice now United have met with officials from the Lisbon club to talk about a deal.

According to the Mail Online the latest round took place yesterday in London as United look to force through a deal before the end of the January transfer window.

The teenager only made his debut for the Benfica first team in October 2015 but has settled quickly and was almost immediately signed to a new five-and-a-half-year contract.

 

The deal reportedly includes a buy-out clause worth in the region of £60million but United are hoping to pay roughly half that with add-ons similar to the Anthony Martial transfer.

And Louis van Gaal and Ed Woodward are keen to get the deal done much sooner rather than later as the speculation has alerted a number of other clubs from the Premier League and across Europe to the Portuguese man's availability.

Sanches has been part of the set-up at Benfica since the age of nine and spent last season playing for the club's B side in the second tier of Portuguese football.

 

And the youngster even started this season playing reserve football but made his debut from the bench in October of this season in a 4-0 at Tondela.

But now Sanches, who is an attacking midfielder but can play through the middle or out wide, is a key cog in the Benfica engine room having racked up nine starts in the Primeira Liga in which Benfica sit second just two points behind leaders and rivals Sporting Lisbon.