Manchester United scouts have been ‘eyeing’ the Botafogo star John Victor at the Club World Cup as the Red Devils look to bolster their goalkeeping options this summer.
The Red Devils have already signed Matheus Cunha from Wolves after triggering his £62.5m release clause and are thought to be closing in on Bryan Mbeumo having reportedly made a second bid worth £65m to land him from Brentford as the club focuses on improving Ruben Amorim’s attacking options.
But the club is also scouring the transfer market for a possible new goalkeeper, or two, amid doubts over Andre Onana as No.1 and with backup Altay Bayindir expected to leave this summer.
They’ve approached Barcelona and Aston Villa over moves for Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Emiliano Martinez respectively, and a report from Portuguese outlet A Bola claims Amorim has ‘already asked’ for Porto’s Diogo Costa.
The 25-year-old – who has a €75m [£64m] release clause – is also on Manchester City’s radar amid doubts over the future of Ederson amid interest from Saudi Arabia, and Costa has now decided to ’embrace a new challenge’ by leaving Porto.
He believes he’s ‘already achieved everything’ he can with the Portuguese giants and is attracted by a move to the Premier League, which is said to be pushing Porto to reduce their demands to around €60m [£51m] in order to attract a buyer.
That would still be a significant sum for United to shell out on a new stopper as they look to undergo major surgery on the squad after their worst season in living memory, and John would be a far cheaper option.
Football Insider claim ‘United have held a long-term interest in John and scouts have been watching him at this summer’s Club World Cup’.
And those scouts will likely have been impressed having watched the 29-year-old become just the second goalkeeper this season after Liverpool’s Alisson to shut out Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, helping Botafogo to an unlikely victory over the Ligue 1 giants.
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John reportedly agreed to stay with the Brazilian side to play at the Club World Cup despite having offers to leave for Europe in January, and is now understood to have a clause allowing him to leave for just £5.8m.
United were among the clubs interested in signing John in the winter window following his role in Botafogo’s historic Copa Libertadores and Brazilian league double, with his agent, Pedro Gutierrez, admitting at the time that he had been contacted by a number of top European clubs, with Tottenham also interested.
The report adds:
‘His preference has always been to play in the Premier League, according to Gutierrez, and United could soon offer him terms to move to Old Trafford following his impressive summer displays in the States.’
