Manchester United Transfer Report: United Prepare £32M Bid for Lucas Moura

An exclusive report on Goal.com today reveals that Manchester United are preparing to make a third bid for Sao Paulo's promising attacking midfielder, Lucas Moura.

Having had bids of around £23 million and £27 million rejected earlier this month, the club are prepared to up their offer one more time to £32 million, in the hope that this will finally tempt the Brazilian club to part with their most prized asset.

Sao Paulo director Marco Aurelio Cunha had yesterday told local publication TMW that United only needed to offer "a little more" to complete the transfer, his comments interpreted by some to be confirmation that the club were willing to sell Lucas.

The Brazilian prodigy looked very impressive when subbed on for the final 20 minutes of his country's Olympic warm-up game with Great Britain yesterday, and United will be keen to complete the transfer before the tournament begins, in fear that his price tag may skyrocket if the player were to impress.

As well as making 15 appearances for the Brazilian national side, Lucas has played over 100 times for Sao Paulo, scoring an impressive 26 goals in all competitions.

It was reported yesterday that United had had a bid in the region of £12.5 million for Robin van Persie rejected by Arsenal, the reason being that the offer fell far short of the North London club's £25 million valuation of the Dutchman (via ESPN).

With the Red Devils having been pipped to the post by rivals Manchester City in the Premier League last season, manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be seeking to rejuvenate his squad ahead of what will likely prove a difficult campaign.

With the signings of Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell already completed, Sir Alex recently revealed that he was looking to sign at least one more player during the summer transfer window (via Manutd.com).

Whether or not Moura will be that player will surely be resolved in the coming few days.