£17.5m Man Utd, West Ham target looking for a way out

Manchester United and West Ham have been credited with an interest in Sporting Lisbon right-back Cristiano Piccini.

The 25-year-old has been tipped to be latest player to depart Portuguese giants after masked hooligans raided their training base in May.

A source close to the player told Turkish-Football that Piccini is considering his options and United and West Ham have been scouting the player.

United recently added 19-year-old full-back Diego Dalot to their ranks for a fee of £19million, but Jose Mourinho may well be still on the lookout for a more senior addition with Antonio Valencia coming to the latter stage of his career.

Besiktas are also interested in the player and have made the most serious offer, putting forward a loan deal with a buying option, but Sporting are believed to favour a sale of the £17.5m-rated defender.

 

Sporting look resigned to losing Piccini and have already signed a new right-back in Bruno Gaspar from Fiorentina.

Piccini, who cost just £2.6m from Real Betis 12 months ago, provided three assists in 40 appearances for Sporting last term.