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What's the story?
Manchester United and Real Madrid have been going toe-to-toe in the transfer window for quite a while now, and while Madrid usually come up trumps (Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy say hello) United have more than held their own in the recent past (David De Gea and a fax machine say ola) and now it appears they have beaten their Spanish rivals to the signing of highly-rated Portuguese winger Umaro Embalo.
The 16-year-old Embalo joined Benfica last year after emigrating from his place of birth Guinea-Bissau and has since made his place permanent in both the Benfica U-19 team and the Portuguese U-17 team (after he attained Portuguese citizenship for himself). Metro report via the Record that United have signed Embalo for an undisclosed fee and he will imminently join the United youth set-up at Carrington.
In case you didn't know...
Embalo's played just 65 minutes in the UEFA Youth League this time around, but has already scored a goal and assisted another one but in the domestic youth league, he has 15 goals and 4 assists from just 12 appearances.
He also has 11 goals in 7 games for Portugal U-16 as well as 5 goals and 4 assists in 9 for the U-17 national team.
So, United have got themselves a Portuguese winger who loves scoring goals... where have we heard that before?
The heart of the matter
A left-footed player comfortable with shooting off either foot - he loves cutting in from the wing (either one, but especially from the right flank) and scoring with his top-notch finishing, while his blistering pace and control on the ball set him apart from others in his age group.
Video
If this doesn't excite you, nothing will...
This lad can play some football, let me tell you that much
Author's Take
United have a bunch of exciting youngsters waiting their chance, especially English-Portuguese winger-cum-attacking-midfielder Angel Gomes, and Embalo would be a superb addition to the squad.
If he can live up to half the potential that a certain other Portuguese winger with a penchant for cutting in and scoring goals had in the red of Manchester United, Real Madrid will be left ruing their missed opportunity
