Manchester City could be pipped to Portuguese starlet Joao Felix by Atletico Madrid.
Benfica's attacking midfielder Felix,19, is one of the most coveted prospects in world football with a £105million release clause.
English champions City are hot on the trail to bring Felix to the Premier League and pip rivals Manchester United to his signature.
But Felix's agent Jorge Mendes is understood to be pushing a move to La Liga giants Atletico to better aid the youngster's development.
Mendes feels playing regularly under Diego Simeone could be a smarter 'intermediate step' than the financial pull of England.
But Atletico will have the funds to buy Felix if Antoine Griezmann leaves as expected to either Barcelona or PSG.
The Madrid club have also sold defender Lucas Hernandez to Bayern Munich for £68m this summer.
Felix is in demand after a stunning breakthrough season and has gone on holiday to Ibiza to consider his future.
The versatile forward also smashed 15 goals, plus nine assists, in his 21 league starts for Benfica and bagged a hat-trick a Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt.
City boss Pep Guardiola is an admirer with German international Leroy Sane, 23, stalling on a new deal at the Etihad amid interest from Bayern Munich.
Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira has admitted that it will be very difficult to persuade Felix to stay at the club this summer with European giants circling.
babysoga
104
João Félix was released from Porto as they believed he was too skinny to develop further. In his first full season with Benfica, he scored 15 goals, provided seven assists and won the title. 😎
terroron
83
Lets be frank! All we need is an in defence. A RB that can push walker ! CB to replace Vinnie ! DM to fill in for Ferna. Thats it!
Howarer
76
🇵🇹 joaofelix70 in 2018/19: 🏃 32 Games ⚽️ 18 Goals 🎯 7 Assists 🥇 UEFA Nations League 19 years of age. 😱
alienxfan003
67
I really don't understand why the young footballers are being priced this much higher! This is clearly insane! He has not even started his career nd he had been given the price tag of Ronaldo!! Clearly the team Benifica has clearly gone mad. Uefa should take some responsibility of this transfers
iinsomnia
47
Agents using “City Interest” to either force a move away from current clubs or an increase in wages 🤦🏼♂️. City only need Rodri and possibly De Ligt although his agent is a ✊🏻👋🏻
Matthewer
38
But why?? They already have great attacking depth. They'll probably have to sell Sane to fund the move as well but don't really see that happening