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Arsenal ready to battle Man Utd for £60m-rated international

By mac14 on April 12, 2016

According to a report in the Daily Mail, Arsenal have joined Manchester United in the race to sign Benfica’s highly-rated midfielder Renato Sanches this summer.

The Portuguese starlet has developed in to one of the hottest properties in European football since making the breakthrough in to the Benfica first eleven this season.

Sanches has so far contributed 6 goals in his 40 appearances and it appears his performances have attracted interest from the Premier League with Manchester United in particular strongly linked with a move in recent months.

The Daily Mail claim that United have been in talks with Benfica since January but have so far been unable to do a deal as Sanches’s contract includes a huge release clause worth a staggering £60m and the Portuguese club are under no pressure to sell on the cheap as his contract runs until 2021.

However, the Mail suggest that Arsenal have now joined the race for the 18-year-old’s signature after Arsene Wenger sent scouts to watch the youngster put in a Man of the Match display during Benfica’s 2-1 win over Academica on Saturday.

With Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky all set to leave the club when their contracts expire in June, we certainly need to bring in at least one central midfielder this summer and Sanches would be an exciting signing.

The youngster has already been capped by the senior Portuguese national team having represented them at every youth level and he’s hotly tipped to go on to have a great future in the game.

However, I don’t for one minute think Arsene will pay anywhere near £60m for the teenager so Benfica will have to lower their expectations if we’re to stand any chance of beating United to his signature.