Manchester United close in on £60m Renato Sanches as they step up plans to sign Benfica starlet following interest from rivals

Manchester United have moved closer to signing midfield sensation Renato Sanches after further talks in London.

The 18-year-old Benfica ace has a buy-out clause of nearly £60million but United are negotiating hard. It is the second time they have met officials of the Lisbon club, after watching Sanches in three of his last four games.

Benfica have put a high price on the teenager but are expected to sell for around half that £60m sum, with add-ons.

The 18-year-old Benfica teenager has scored two goals in 13 appearances for the Portuguese side this season

 It would still represent a significant outlay for United, following the signing of Anthony Martial, 20, in a deal that could cost £58m. At a recruitment meeting of United’s top scouts last week, the decision was made to move now for Sanches rather than wait until the summer.

Other heavyweight European clubs have been watching him and United do not want an auction to start.

Sanches is an attacking midfielder who can play down the middle or out wide. He could be loaned back to Benfica for the rest of this season but would be an exciting signing, having broken into the team at Estadio da Luz this season.

United scouts were originally watching winger Goncalo Guedes and veteran full back Eliseu, but soon realised Sanches was the player for them.

Manager Louis van Gaal is encouraging his United players to fight among themselves after confirming that a half-time shouting match led to last weekend’s victory at Liverpool. 

Captain Wayne Rooney was at the centre of a frank exchange that could even be heard in the Liverpool dressing-room before he went out to score United’s winner at Anfield. Having accused his players of ‘protecting’ their team-mates too much earlier this month, Van Gaal admitted he is happy to stand back and let them criticise one another.

Manchester United may have to pay up to £58m for Anthony Martial (left) following his move from Monaco

‘I invited it!’ said the United boss. ‘It is good. Players have to take responsibility, but at the right moment.

‘Not only Wayne Rooney was doing that, several players were doing it and that’s what I want. The players are self-responsible, not only the manager. It’s a little bit crazy that I said this in a press conference and then it happened at half-time.

'But I’ve already been asking for this for more than a year. I have seen it in my career also at the wrong moment, but at the right moment you have to do it. In the 1995 Champions League final Frank Rijkaard and my captain Danny Blind got involved, for example.’