Man City burst into race for €60m Man Utd target as Hugo Viana acts

Manchester City will reportedly provide Manchester United with stiff competition to sign Morten Hjulmand, with the Sporting CP star on the market for less than his release clause this summer.

Hjulmand played for clubs in Denmark, Austria and Italy before arriving at Sporting in August 2023. The central midfielder has gone on to play 96 times for Sporting in all competitions, chipping in with seven goals and six assists.

Hjulmand has emerged into one of the very best players in Portugal and was named Sporting’s captain at the start of last season.

Hjulmand is a tenacious midfielder who possesses great game intelligence and can regularly intercept passes before using his fantastic vision to break opposition lines.

His aggressive yet classy performances have caught the attention of a host of major clubs around Europe, mainly Man City, Man Utd and Juventus.

On Monday, TEAMtalk revealed that Ruben Amorim has approved Hjulmand’s capture at United.

Sources have confirmed to us that Amorim is eager to reunite with the Denmark star and is hopeful United can hijack Juve’s talks for him.

But the transfer battle has just gotten more complicated, with Portuguese newspaper A Bola claiming that City have burst into the frame too.

After confirming our reporting on United being interested in Hjulmand, A Bola state that Hugo Viana is looking to sign him for City.

Viana left Sporting to become City’s new director of football earlier this year. He formed a great relationship with Amorim but is now looking to deprive the head coach by getting to Hjulmand’s services first.

Viana is expected to use his contacts at Sporting to enter official talks for the 26-year-old in the coming weeks.

Hjulmand has an €80million (£69m / $94m) release clause in his Sporting deal, though he can move for less than that sum.

Sporting want €50-60m (up to £52m / $70m) to let their leader go. They want to be well compensated as they are also losing Viktor Gyokeres to Arsenal this summer.

TEAMtalk understands Juve have made good progress in contract talks with Hjulmand, though the Italian giants are still some way off meeting Sporting’s demands.

Juve are only willing to pay around €35m (£30m / $41m) for Hjulmand, giving City and United the chance to swoop in.

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Morten Hjulmand has big decision to make

The 26-year-old would rather join Juve than United, while City getting involved could give him more thinking to do.

Sporting are also trying to tie Hjulmand down to a new contract, though it remains to be seen if such talks will be successful.

Hjulmand will have a big decision to make if City come calling. He would have to fight hard to get into Pep Guardiola’s starting eleven, given how good the City squad is.

At the same time, a transfer to City would allow him to play under one of the greatest coaches ever and also compete for major honours such as the Premier League and Champions League.

United being unable to offer any kind of European football could impact their chances of signing another transfer target, after Liam Delap chose Champions League football with Chelsea instead.

Hjulmand’s future has yet to be decided, but this transfer chase is certainly one to watch.

City plot keeper ‘offer’; United have bid rejected

Meanwhile, City are hunting a replacement for goalkeeper Ederson and are planning an ‘offer’ for a Portuguese star.

Elsewhere, United have supposedly submitted a bid of their own for Aston Villa’s Emi Martinez.

However, the cheeky proposal has been turned down.

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