Manchester United Transfer News: Lucas Wants Out, but United Face Transfer War

Brazilian and current Sao Paulo FC sensation, Lucas Moura, took the footballing world by storm last season, making a real name for himself not just for his club side, but also by breaking into the Brazil National Team itself. Aged just a tender 19 years old, the feat was nothing short of brilliant from the young man who plays as an attacking midfielder or even sometimes out wide on the wing.

But now Lucas is very much looking for a way out of Brazil come the start of next season. That's what the Daily Mail are reporting, anyway. As things stand, Manchester United are one of just four major European names that are in the hunt for Moura's signature. The current front-runners, Inter Milan, are expected to make an offer of around £20 million later in the week for the impressive young superstar.

Other rivals for Lucas include the Spanish champions, Real Madrid, and the current European champions, Chelsea. The blues have in fact already made a bid for Moura this summer—believed to be in the region of £32.4 million. Amazingly this offer was initially rejected by Sao Paulo, who told the club that it would take "crazy money" to tempt them into selling Moura.

However, despite this being the case earlier in the summer, the fact that Lucas has now openly come out and announced his willingness and desire to leave the Brazilian League, may mean Sao Paulo will be lucky to get anywhere near that figure for the teenager's signature. When they rejected the Chelsea bid, the ball was still very much in the court of the Brazilians. However, with Moura now making it clear that he no longer wishes to ply his trade with the Tricolor Paulista, Sao Paulo may be forced to let him go for far less than they had initially envisaged.

Without doubt, the club will do everything in their power to squeeze every penny from the transfer as possible. Its just that wont be quite as much as they had originally imagined. According to Moura himself, his agent has already had a meeting with the Italian Giants, Inter, who have made a habit in the past of signing some of Brazil's brightest and most talented players.

Moura said:

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"I cannot guarantee that I will stay until the end of my contract, 

Much has changed and the situation is not up to me any more. 

I know my father and my agent had a meeting (with Inter) but I don't know what was said. Now I will go to the Olympics with my mind only on winning a gold medal."

"

So where does this leave the Red Devils in the whole Lucas transfer saga? If I'm honest it doesn't seem like United right now have the pulling power to bring a player of this potential to the club ahead of the likes of Real Madrid or even Chelsea, who both have seemingly unlimited budgets and can offer a player ridiculous wages. That's not to count United out completely, but with three heavyweights of the game to compete with over just one player, it would be a tad silly to get ones hopes up too much that Lucas Moura will be wearing the red of Manchester next season.

This comes as negative news for a lot of United fans who were desperate to sign the Brazilian. In fact it's been a bad week for United fans in regards to possible transfer targets seemingly going elsewhere. Although nothing is confirmed yet, it looks more than likely that Luka Modric, who was top of Fergie's wish list after Kagawa, will be joining Real Madrid this summer. It's an odd move for someone of Modric's experience, to say the very least. One would have to severely doubt that he will break straight into a Madrid midfield which includes the likes of Mesut Ozil and Xabi Alonso. But if he does go there, all the best to him.

Some good news for United however, is the possible move for Portugal and FC Porto sensation, Joao Moutinho. Moutinho plays the exact role that United need filling right now and, despite some issues in regards to his apparent ego, would thrive under the tutelage of Sir Alex at Old Trafford. Perhaps United will be able to sway Lucas Moura in their direction, but if not, Moutinho is more than a decent replacement for him.