Benfica midfielder Joao Neves has recently impressed the scouts of Manchester City and Manchester United, sources have confirmed to 90min.
The 19-year-old first broke into Benfica’s first team last season and played 17 games on their way to Primeira Liga glory.
He has continued his fine form into the new campaign and has been rewarded with a maiden call-up to the Portugal senior team for their Euro 2024 qualifiers this month.
Neves’ performances have now come to the attention of Europe’s elite. 90min understands that Man City are currently leading the race for him and are already keeping close tabs on his situation, believing he would be ready to make the move to England.
Pep Guardiola’s side saw a mini-overhaul of their midfield department during the summer, losing club captain Ilkay Gundogan to Barcelona on a free transfer before bringing in Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic and Wolves’ Matheus Nunes.
The treble-winners’ form has slowed in recent weeks, suffering back-to-back Premier League defeats heading into the October international break.
Man Utd have also become enamoured by Neves during their regular scouting trips to watch Benfica teammate Antonio Silva, who is high on their shortlist of options at centre-back.
Erik ten Hag’s men have endured a dreadful start to the new season and were only spared a seventh loss from their opening 11 games thanks to a stoppage-time brace from Scott McTominay in a 2-1 comeback win against Brentford on Saturday.
Though this interest from the Premier League is significant, there are plenty of other onlookers from across the continent. Paris Saint-Germain, who have strong Portuguese contacts, are monitoring Neves, while Borussia Dortmund and Juventus have both made several trips to watch him this term.
However, Benfica do not need to sell Neves anytime soon and have no intention of letting him leave during the January transfer window. Neves’ current contract runs until 2028 and he is a client of Jorge Mendes.
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