Manchester City are eyeing a summer move for Francisco Trincao but could face competition from Manchester United.
The Sporting Lisbon star has continued to flourish in Portugal despite underwhelming during his previous Premier League stint at Wolves. Ruben Amorim bought him to the Portuguese capital and is expected to target several of his former players.
However Sporting chief Hugo Viana is joining the hierarchy at the Etihad Stadium and may too look to raid the Portuguese club, all of which could lead to an internal tug-of-war within the city of Manchester, reports A Bola.
The Lisbon outfit though want to retain Trincao as they look to table the offer of a new contract with interest in the winger growing. The 25-year-old has played more minutes that anyone in the ranks at Sporting and has scored nine times this term as he eyes a third straight eye in double figures.
Trincao spent a year at Barcelona after the Spanish giants signed him from Braga. His stay at the Nou Camp was short lived and he was loaned out to Wolves the following year, but failed to make the grade and that's where Sporting swooped in, signing him on loan and then permanently.
One of the reported clauses in Wolves' loan deal for Trincao meant they had to pay £5m not to sign the winger with his deal including a fee in case the Midlands outfit decided not to use the option to buy him, which saw them pay Barcelona to dodge landing him permanently.
Trincao fell down the pecking order under Bruno Lage as his lack of form cost him his first-team place and the player confessed he was disappointed to be snubbed at Molineux.
He said: “I’m doing my best for the coach to think that [I should play more]. It’s his decision, I have to respect it. Of course, I think I deserve more and I’m trying to do that and show that every day. If you just look for the end product, maybe you can say that [we haven’t seen the best of me]. But if you look at football in terms of the whole game, you can say I’m doing great things.”
Trincao is unlikely to be the only player Sporting have to fend off interested parties for this summer. Viktor Gyokeres is tipped to move on after several stunning seasons in Portugal, where he's been prolific. Amorim and United have also been linked with Geovany Quenda.