Anderson Talisca to Manchester United Transfer Reportedly Set for £22M

Manchester United have agreed personal terms with Anderson Talisca, according to reports in Turkey. 

Turkish newspaper AMK (h/t Turkish-Football) reported the Benfica playmaker, who spent the season on loan at Besiktas and has a £22 million release clause, has struck a deal with United despite having a year left on his loan spell with the Super Lig club.

According to Marco Goncalves of Portuguese newspaper O Jogo, (h/t Turkish-Football), Besiktas are preparing for his exit by looking at another Benfica player, Andre Carrillo.

Speaking to Globo Esporte (h/t Turkish-Football) recently, Talisca claimed the Red Devils are interested in him and admitted he would relish playing under manager Jose Mourinho:

"I cannot deny there is interest but what happens next depends on Benfica and my representatives. There will be news on this soon. 

"Look, every player dreams of playing under him [Jose Mourinho]. Mourinho wants me, he has wanted me for a long time and I am an admirer of his work.

"I had a good season so we will see what happens."

However, Turkish-Football's own source close to Besiktas believes the Brazilian will be seeing out his loan deal with them.

Sport Witness also cast doubt on the accuracy of the report:

United could use more attacking-midfield talent this summer because of Wayne Rooney's decline and Jesse Lingard's failure to convince as a starting player, but it might come as a relief to the Old Trafford faithful to learn a deal has seemingly not been agreed with Talisca.

The 23-year-old is a talented player, and he had a successful season with Besiktas, contributing 17 goals and six assists in all competitions.

However, according to Squawka, he created just 28 chances in his 22 Super Lig matches. That's 1.43 chances created per 90 minutes, which is well below the level of some of United's top creators such as Paul Pogba, Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

The numbers suggest that in a more difficult league, Talisca may not have what it takes to act as a playmaker for United, given he was hardly laying on huge numbers of opportunities for his team-mates at Besiktas.

Sport Witness' Jan Hagen also believes he would be ill-fitting despite the strong year he had in Turkey:

Hagen elaborated on the weaknesses in his game:

Given the doubts over his ability to perform at the highest level, let alone consistently, it would seem Talisca would be a poor choice for United as they look to challenge for the Premier League title once again.

The Brazilian—who is yet to make his debut for the Selecao's senior side—could not hold down a place at Benfica, hence his departure on loan, so he'd be unlikely to do the same at Old Trafford.