Manchester City Poised to Rival Manchester United for Porto's Alex Telles
By Ali Rampling
Exclusive - Manchester City could rival Manchester United for the signature of Alex Telles, after making an enquiry about the Porto defender.
United have held lengthy talks over Telles as they seek to give Luke Shaw some added competition at left-back, but are yet to meet Porto's £18m valuation.
The Red Devils could now risk being pipped to the 27-year-old by rivals City, as a source has told 90min that Pep Guardiola's side have enquired about what it would take to complete a deal for the Brazilian.
City had been linked with Ajax left-back Nicolas Tagliafico, but the club are not convinced enough to pay in excess of £20m for the Argentinian international, and have turned their attentions to finding an alternative.
The club have since been offered Telles - a player they do rate and have scouted in the past - and he could appeal to City as his £18m asking price is considerably less than what Ajax were demanding for Tagliafico.
United have been locked in talks with Porto regarding Telles for a number of weeks, but are yet to bid more than £13m for the Brazilian.
According to the Telegraph, United have been set a deadline of Saturday (today) to complete a deal for Telles, as he travels away to Brazil on Sunday for international duty.
However, the two clubs remain a distance apart regarding the fee as Porto refuse to budge from their £18m asking price.
This does not mean a deal for the full-back is dead - he could still join United, but not in this transfer window.
Telles' Porto deal expires at the end of the 2020/21 season, and he could instead sign a pre-contract agreement with the Red Devils on 1 January before joining them on a free at the end of the campaign. However, this would still leave United short on options for the current season.