Coming in from north of the Scottish border, well-connected Daily Record reporter Duncan Castles has revealed that Manchester United are keen on Porto’s Andre Silva.

What’s the story?

Well, the Red Devils are believed to be looking ahead to 2017 in terms of their player recruitment despite spending the best part of £150m during the last transfer window. On their radar is a new striker in the shape of Silva, who has been earning rave reviews at club and international level this term. The 21-year-old has netted seven times in Primeira Liga action for the Dragoes, while weighing in with another two in the Champions League. On top of those efforts, he’s also sitting on four goals in five games for Portugal after notching a hat-trick against the Faroe Islands in October.

Castles’ report in the Daily Record hints that plans are being drawn up for life after Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney, with the Swede’s contract set to expire next year – albeit there’s an option to keep him for another 12 months – while the Red Devils’ skipper isn’t getting any younger. Although Castles stops short of saying he’s a replacement, it seems likely that this thought is in the club’s mind.

Further to this his €60m (£51.8m) release clause is mentioned, as is interest from Manchester City. Alongside the Citizens, Arsenal have been mooted as potential suitors by O Jogo of late.

As well as the aforementioned detail, it’s also suggested that missing out on Renato Sanches is seen as episode the club don’t want to repeat – the midfielder was aligned with the Red Devils before joining Bayern Munich last summer.

That’s a lot of money, isn’t it?

Yes. Silva may be talented, but he’s young and has not played outside of his homeland as of yet. Although stars such as Radamel Falcao have emerged in the Iberian nation before going on to play for other continental clubs, there’s the risk that he may struggle to make the step. Porto are, however, open to selling their biggest names with, according to Jan Hagen, the Estadio do Dragao outfit looking to raise €116m (£100.2m) to comply with Financial Fair Play rules.

Given that Porto have raised €601m (£519m) between 2004 and 2015 through selling players it shows they are shrewd negotiators, but they will also be realistic enough to realise that a big fee for a player of Silva’s age cannot really be rejected in this situation, so they may opt to accept below his release clause.

What sort of striker is Silva?

Standing at 6ft. 1”, Silva is physically imposing enough to lead the line alone – reflected by Portugal using him in the role and allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to move back to the wing – while he's proven at Porto that he’s adept in the area. Three of his nine goals this term (33.3%) have been headers, showing that he could thrive from service from wide positions, which has been a hallmark of Man United’s play for years – they have played the third highest number of crosses in the Premier League this season with 271.

[ad_pod id='playwire' align='center']