Chelsea enter race as Man Utd learn colossal asking price for defender

Oli Fisher

Manchester United have learned that they will have to pay an astronomical fee in order to land one of their defensive targets, a report claims.

Recent reports suggested that Real Madrid had entered the race to sign Porto’s highly-rated defender Eder Militao, who is a major target for United and Liverpool.

The Brazilian ace was said to be available at a cut-price £42.5million due to an early get-out clause in his contract.

The Portuguese giants are desperate for the youngster to pen a new deal to increase his release fee – despite only having signed a new contract until 2023 back in the summer

Barcelona, Roma and Borussia Dortmund have also been linked with Eder, who made his senior debut for Brazil in September of last year,  although reports in Portugal last month claimed that United were leading the chase for his signature.

However O Jogo offer an update, citing reports in Portugal that claim it will take a colossal £68m bid to prise him away.

Sunday Times journalist Duncan Castles believes Militao’s official release clause is lower than the huge valuation, though.

“Militao’s got a €50million [45m] release clause, which is considered to be quite low given how well he’s done in his first half-season in European football,” Castles told the Transfer Window podcast.

“Manchester United remain interested in him, he was a player that Jose Mourinho proposed as an alternative to [Kalidou] Koulibaly.

“Mourinho obviously wanted an experienced, ready-made defender but said to the club: ‘If you want to do a younger player, this is the one I recommend.’”

 

Castles also revealed interest from one of United’s rivals, adding: “I think Chelsea are also interested and Chelsea have a good relationship with some of the player’s representatives, which might help facilitate a move, and I think Real Madrid are also interested in him at present.”

 

Get the latest personalised Red Devils products on our new TEAMtalk Man Utd shop!