Man Utd and Man City 'to go head-to-head' for Premier League flop who is now smashing it at his new club

Both Manchester City and Manchester United are considering a move for a forgotten former Premier League player who has impressed in Portugal, according to reports.

The Manchester-based clubs could be set for busy summers as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City look to return to title contention while Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United will be keen to see some progress with the side currently in 14^th position in the Premier League table. And they could be set to compete for the signing of Francisco Trincão.

The 25-year-old has previously played for Barcelona between 2020 and 2023 but may be best known for his loan spell at Wolves during the 2021/22 campaign, in which he registered three goals and one assist in 30 appearances for the Wanderers.

Trincão, a winger by trade, then signed for Sporting CP on loan before penning a permanent deal at the side - then managed by Amorim – in the summer of 2023.

Francisco Trincao plays for Sporting CP (Credit:Getty)

According to A Bola, both City and United could pursue a move for the winger this summer.

He is just one of several Sporting players who Amorim, 40, will supposedly target this summer - with Viktor Gyokeres and Geovany Quenda also heavily linked with a potential move to Old Trafford.

However, City could be dealt a huge advantage by the fact the Portuguese side’s current sporting director, Hugo Viana, is set to join the Premier League champions as their new director of football in the summer.

Trincão, who has registered nine goals and 13 assists for Sporting this season, is currently contracted to the Portuguese champions until the summer of 2026 and is valued at £22.3m by Transfermarkt.

Although A Bola claims the player has a release clause of “€80m (£66m), with Barça entitled to 50 percent of the value of any future sale”.

And fans will be hoping Trincão has learned a thing or two from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, having played with both during his career.

"It's a lot of work, it's a lot of quality," Trincão told Sky Sports back in 2022.

"It's really good to watch them play and I try to learn the maximum I can. They work a lot, people don't know how hard they work. It's the main thing that I learn from them."