Manchester United were one of a number of top European clubs to watch Benfica starlet Joao Felix on Tuesday night as the continent's big hitters begin to jostle for position and a summer pursuit of the 19-year-old playmaker.
Felix was outstanding in the 5-1 win over Boavista, picking up another goal and assist for his season tally but generally standing out with his vision and game-breaking ability. While he started out as a midfielder, Felix has been playing more as a striker of late and has enjoyed a leap in the level of his performances, attracting the eyes of Borussia Dortmund, who are one of Europe's principal buyers of young talent, and Bayern Munich, who may yet be forced to move for an alternative to Callum Hudson-Odoi with Chelsea playing hard ball.
Atletico Madrid are also interested in the teenager, considering him a potential Antoine Griezmann replacement should Barcelona or Manchester United re-enter the market for the World Cup winner.
While one of their scouts was watching Felix in Lisbon, United were playing out a 2-2 draw at home to Burnley.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first dropped points didn't have the disappointing feel you might have expected from such a result, having mounted an impressive comeback from 2-0 down, but United did lose two points on Chelsea and Arsenal in the pursuit of Champions League football next season.
United struggled to create clear chances against Sean Dyche's men, and caretaker boss Solskjaer saw the problem as a lack of urgency.
“The danger of winning might be that you think what we've done before gives us the right to start off on 90 per cent because we're winning one or 2-0, but we don't,” he said.
“You have to start properly in each game and today we didn't start off well enough to cause Burnley enough problems. We know they are well organised and happy if we cross the ball. We needed more tempo and more urgency in the play.”
Though the narrow 2-0 FA Cup win over Reading at the start of the month was poor, Tuesday easily saw United’s worst performance under Solskjaer to date and the Norwegian could have had no complaints had it ended in defeat.
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