Manchester United Transfer News: Target Lucas Moura Reportedly Off Limits

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has been working hard to land rising star Lucas Moura, but hasn't been successful. The Brazilian star's current club, Sao Paulo, has said it has no plans to even consider moving him.

Comments from Sao Paulo director Adalberto Baptista were passed along by TalkSport.co.uk and he makes the team's stance on letting Moura go crystal clear. The report comes after weeks of speculation.

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"There are no negotiations going on. Everybody knows that we got an offer for him, and rejected it. It's also known that Lucas doesn't want to leave. The only person keeping the expectations alive is his agent," said Baptista.

"The decision is final. There will always be great teams going after great players. This mismatch between the European and Brazilian transfer window makes it hard for national clubs, and we have to deal with that."

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While it could always be posturing from the Brazilian side in an attempt to raise the potential bids, Baptista seems adamant that the 19-year-old attacking midfielder will remain with the squad, at least for the time being.

It's a disappointing turn of events for Ferguson. He has already done a nice job of bringing in young midfielders during the current window by landing Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell. Lucas would have been another coup for the longtime boss.

Lucas has scored 26 goals and added 20 assists during his three seasons with Sao Paulo. That type of production before a player's 20th birthday is normally a pretty good indicator that he's something special, so it's no surprise that United has shown interest.

He's currently away from the squad while representing Brazil in the Olympics. It's a good experience for a young player like Lucas to have just in case he does eventually move to a bigger club at some point. The spotlight doesn't get much brighter than the Olympics.

It will be interesting to see if the most recent comments by Baptista cause Ferguson to stop the chase. Lucas would have been a perfect addition for the Red Devils and would have eventually worked his way into a key role for the club.

Finding young players with as much potential as Lucas is rare, so it's important to land them before their transfer price skyrockets. That was clearly what Ferguson was trying to accomplish here, but the chances of pulling it off have dropped dramatically.

If you take Baptista at his word, there's no chance at all. Of course, teams have said that in the past during the window and still moved players, it's all part of the game. That said, he didn't seem to be playing any games.

Unless something drastically changes, it looks like it's time for United to start looking in a different direction.