United’s pursuit of Club World cup star under threat as Benfica bid “competitive package” – report

Manchester United are at risk of losing out on one of their key summer midfield targets.

Midfield improvement

Whilst most of the transfer chatter regarding United this summer has been focused on attackers, the midfield is also an area that Ruben Amorim would ideally like to strengthen.

The Red Devils have long been linked to players like Ederson from Atalanta and Bayern Munich’s Joao Palhinha .

There have also been recent links resurfacing to Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Andre.

Nonetheless, one intriguing link that has emerged this summer is to Club World cup star, Richard Rios who plays for Brazilian side Palmeiras.

Significant competition for the player

Problematically, there are numerous Premier League clubs currently interested in the midfielder such as Nottingham Forest.

There have been reports suggesting that United will rival any bid for the midfield star as they want to find a replacement for veteran Casemiro.

SL Benfica take the lead

United’s pursuit of the player faces more issues however, as TEAMtalk report that “Nottingham Forest have submitted a bid worth nearly €30m for Palmeiras midfielder, Richard Rios, though face a fight to seal a deal.”

Interestingly, “Benfica are ready to accelerate talks for Richard Rios: the Portuguese club wants to close the deal quickly, especially after the departure of Orkun Kokcu, and sees Rios as the ideal replacement.”

To thicken the plot even more though, Palmeiras are said to be in no hurry to agree to a deal and hope to drag out the negotiations to create a bidding war for the player.

Nonetheless, Benfica hope to speed the deal up and they have “sent an offer with a very competitive package, close to the €30m figure, including bonuses: they want to secure the 25-year-old as soon as possible.”

What’s more, AS Roma are said to be backing out of a deal after seeing their bid of €25 million rejected.

Delay may help United

Were United to throw their hat into the ring, they would probably have to do so later in the window as they need to focus on sealing a deal for Bryan Mbeumo and completing sales of players like Jadon Sancho and Antony.

Therefore, if Palmeiras drag a deal out, United could potentially get involved later in the summer and hope to blow the competition out of the water.

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