Manchester United and Sporting CP are expected to share a number of phone calls and hold multiple meetings in the summer transfer window.
Ruben Amorim's move from Lisbon to Manchester this season has led to numerous reports linking many Sporting players with a reunion with the United boss in England. Viktor Gyokeres and Geovany Quenda are two names that have dominated the rumour mill, with the latter signing for Chelsea.
The Portuguese giants possess a number of talented players with some of Europe's biggest teams lining-up summer moves for the likes of Ousmane Diomande, Morten Hjulmand and Zeno Debast. And according to reports, United are plotting another transfer raid on Amorim's former team after missing out on Quenda.
It has been suggested that the United boss wants to bring winger Francisco Trincao to the club in the summer to bolster his attacking options. Marcus Rashford and Antony are destined to depart on permanent deals at the end of the season meaning reinforcements will be required in the final third.
The Mirror have claimed that Trincao is valued around £30million, a similar fee that United paid for Patrick Dorgu in January. In 2023, Sporting paid around €10million, all in, to bring Trincao to the club from Barcelona so they would be destined to make profit.
Trincao worked with Amorim at Sporting and Braga after he signed the wide forward from Barcelona. Arsenal and Newcastle are also thought to be keen on the former Barcelona man, who registered 20 goal contributions for Sporting last season and has already hit 24 this term.
At Barcelona, Trincao managed just three goals and two assists before struggling to adapt to Premier League football with Wolves in the 2021/22 season. Now, he has rediscovered his best, returning to the Portugal national team and scoring a vital goal in their Nations League quarter-final clash with Denmark.
The left-footed winger is understood to be loved by Amorim, according to Rui Santos, former Braga youth academy coordinator. "We know that Ruben Amorim is a great coach and a great trainer of athletes who have excelled at Sporting," he said via Nitocias Ao Minuto.
"At a time when Francisco Trincão was being criticized, the coach never stopped believing in him. He always supported him. In this case, Ruben Amorim was one of the pillars of Trincão’s success. In the past, many people had doubts and now everyone is certain.
“Their rivals in Manchester, and obviously Sporting being a big club, are two of the great giants of football. Furthermore, United has one of Trincão’s ‘fathers’, Ruben Amorim, who has always believed in him. When an athlete is going to take on new projects, he cannot leave aside the financial aspect, but he also has to think about the next step.
“At Sporting he is having a fabulous return, but here everything is aligned because, in addition to the financial aspect, we have a very important part: working with someone who believed in him when everyone else doubted him.
“Manchester United, Premier League… The Theatre of Dreams came together with the technical team that always believed in him.”
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