Manchester United's pursuit of three of Portugal’s rising young stars could cost them a staggering £250 million.
Manager-in-waiting Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to sign the best young talent rather than older experienced players.
It’s why he has ordered regular updates on Benfica pair Joao Felix, 19, and Ruben Dias, 21, plus Sporting Lisbon’s 24-year-old Bruno Fernandes.
But the top clubs in Europe including Manchester City , Juventus , Barcelona and Real Madrid also covet the trio who are all regular internationals for their country.
It’s why forward Felix has a £105million release clause, midfielder Fernandes’ buy-out cost is £95million while Dias has a value of £50million.
That adds up to a hefty £250million if a club wanted to secure all three.
That’s unlikely but right now Solskjaer is keeping his options open as he prepares for his first foray into the transfer market.
Even though his appointment as permanent manager is yet to be confirmed by the Old Trafford hierarchy he has delivered a wish-list of transfer targets to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward which includes the Portuguese trio. One player who would come a lot cheaper – at least regarding a transfer fee – is Paris Saint-Germain’s Adrien Rabiot.
He is in dispute with the club and will be available on a free in the summer.
And Manchester United legend Gordon Strachan has backed the Norwegian for the Old Trafford hotseat.
Strachan is delighted Solskjaer is tapping into Sir Alex Ferguson’s knowledge – and isn’t worried by his lack of coaching ability.
The Scot spent three seasons at Old Trafford under Fergie and said: “I’ve heard Ole isn’t the world’s greatest coach, but Sir Alex wasn’t the world’s greatest coach.
“He knew how to coach, but, for 25 years, he didn’t do much coaching, he left that to others. He brought presence, discipline and footballing philosophy – things like passing the ball forward more – and that’s where modern football is at.
“It’s a lot simpler than people are making out. You’ll get caught up in it if you believe all these stats, but it’s ‘the Emperor’s new clothes’.
“We know Ole is talking to Sir Alex – and that’s good. He won’t be asking about tactics, he’ll be asking how he deals with being United manager on and off the park.
“When Alex first went to United, he had a similar set-up with Sir Matt Busby.
“Nothing technical, just how to deal with being the manager at that club. As a top manager, sometimes you can think you’re getting all the problems in the world and that it’s horrible.
“So it’s nice to sit and have a cup of tea with somebody who has been there, done that and survived – he’s OK, he’s not nuts.
“It’s just nice to talk to somebody who has been in your shoes and there are not many who have walked the road Ole is right now.
“Sir Alex may say, ‘I had that with David Beckham or Jaap Stam, this is how I solved it, try that’.”
