Man Utd prepare £38m offer as they jump ahead of Newcastle, Wolves in race for defender

Joe Williams
Man Utd target Goncalo Inacio celebrates scoring a goal

Premier League side Man Utd are ready to make an offer for Sporting Lisbon defender Goncalo Inacio, according to reports in Portugal.

The centre-back joined the Sporting academy at the age of ten and signed his first professional contract in January 2018 at the age of 16.

Inacio made his debut for the Portuguese giants in October 2020 and has now gone on to make 67 appearances over the last two seasons.


Could you grab your dream Manchester United shirt number amid Manchester United interest?


The 20-year-old has represented Portugal at all youth levels from under-17 up and has made three appearances for the under-21s this campaign.

And that form has attracted interest from a number of clubs with most of the interest in Inacio – who has a €45m (£38m) release clause at Sporting – currently coming from the Premier League.

Man Utd and Newcastle were previously linked around a month ago and now A Bola (via Sport Witness) have claimed that the Red Devils have Inacio on their list of ‘potential reinforcements’.

The report adds that Man Utd have prepared an offer of €40m plus €5m in bonuses taking the total to his €45m release clause but it would require the direct payment of the full amount to trigger that.

Wolves and Newcastle are said to be the other two interested clubs, who are seen to be ‘on the same level’, while Man Utd have an advantage as they are seen by Inacio as a bigger club than their two Premier League rivals.

Meanwhile, former Premier League striker Noel Whelan reckons Man Utd winger Jadon Sancho is “in danger of missing out on the World Cup” unless he improves his performances next season.

Whelan told Football Insider: “Reflecting on this season, it’s not been great for Sancho or Man United.

“That’s the reason why he’s not in the England set-up. People have been playing more regularly and putting in better performances. It took him a long time to finally move to Man United – but it’s not been the easiest of transitions.

“Hopefully under Ten Hag he can get more minutes and play in a system that suits him better. We hardly saw anything in the way of consistency last season. It’s looking like a strange move at this point.

“It’s an area where England are saturated with talent. He’s going to have to hit the ground running at the start of next season. Otherwise, he’s in danger of missing out on the World Cup.”