Liverpool and Manchester United are set to battle it out for one of Portugal’s rising stars, Danilo Pereira. The 25-year-old was reported to have been scouted by the English pair during a recent 7-0 win for Porto over Nacional (Via Portguese Outlet abola.pt)
Danilo might not be one of the players that is talked about a lot and that is due to his steady rise in Portuguese football. The defensive midfielder moved to the giants of Portuguese football in 2015 from Maritimo and he even ended up winning Euro 2016 with Portugal.
This season Danilo has been one of the best players for Porto and has helped them to second place in the league standings while they still challenge for the UEFA Champions League.
The 25-year-old plays as a defensive midfielder and is great at intercepting the ball and starting attacks, though he doesn’t make lung-bursting runs into the box.
Both clubs that are interested in him have their own problems with midfielders as Manchester United may lose out on the services of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick at the end of the season while Liverpool have their own issues as well.
Emre Can hasn’t progressed or developed as much as many would have expected and Jurgen Klopp would certainly be looking to add quality to the midfield. The Reds have just Jordan Henderson for the role of the holding midfielder with the likes of Marko Grujic and Kevin Stewart still developing and not being ready to play in the first team on a regular basis.
Porto though would not be willing to let go of another rising star on the cheap and will try to get both clubs into a bidding war. Liverpool manager Klopp had stated that he would be willing to splash the cash should the right player come along for the side and Danilo certainly fits the bill in almost every department for playing in the Premier League.
He is athletic and has great ability as well but Liverpool have also been linked with another rising star from German football and that is Mahmoud Dahoud. The Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder has been a target for Klopp for a number of months and the Reds failed to sign him up in the winter window.
Klopp would be looking to seal the deal for Dahoud in the summer and maybe Danilo is being looked at as an option should they fail to get the German.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Jose Mourinho actually signs the Portuguese international. He does have history with Porto as he led them to the Champions League in 2004 and will have a lot of money to spend in the window, as Manchester United normally do.
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