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What's the story?
With the Brazilian season ending in December, and most player contracts naturally ending at the same time, it's quite understandable that major European teams look forward to raiding the vast talent pool therein and boosting their squad when the winter market opens up in January.
Keeping this in mind, the agent of 27-year-old Santos forward Lucas Lima, Luccas Badia who has confirmed that Manchester United are interested in signing his client on a free this January - since Lima's contract with the Brazilian giants runs out in December. But he also added that there are many other European clubs interested in signing the player who is capable of playing anywhere along the attacking midfield / wide forward zones
"Inter, Roma, and Barcelona are keeping close tabs on Lucas. Manchester United want him. I think we would be well suited to the Serie A, but we will see. His contract ends on 31 December and there are many clubs interested, but I am not sure what Santos is trying to do." he said.
In fact, Baddia already confirmed that two European clubs had made bids for him...
"Crystal Palace made a €15 million offer while Fenerbahce made a €20 million bid but for some reason neither has been accepted."
In case you didn't know
Lima was in the news this summer after Brazilian media claimed that a deal had been agreed with him and Barcelona - after pressure from Lima's close friend Neymar Jr. This, though, was before the more famous Brazilian moved house - and after the PSG move, talk of Lima stopped rather abruptly.
The heart of the matter
Jose Mourinho is a touch worried about the hectic run-in he's promised if remains competitive in all the four competitions United are involved in - as they should be in January, really - and even though he has Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial bombing down the wings along with Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan - he would like a useful option on the bench, and Lima is all that and much more.
Video
Lima can play quite a bit:
The Brazilian is a quite lovely playmaker and could make for a good addition to the squad.
Author's Take
Coming on a free, it would be a decent, relatively inexpensive punt for Mourinho to make and it could ease the scheduling pressures on his first-team choices
