Portuguese is contracted to his club until 2018.
Premier League champions Manchester United have been given the go-ahead to sign highly rated young Sporting Lisbon holding midfielder William Carvalho at the end of the season, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
SEE ALSO: The top 10 best Manchester United players of all time
The Red Devils have been keeping close tabs on the powerful Portugal international for some time now, with new head coach David Moyes having sent his scouts over to the Portuguese capital on several occasions already in this campaign to run their eye over the player.
And with the Portuguese giants having now found a replacement for the 21-year-old in the form of Estoril’s Goncalo, United are free to follow up their long-running interest in the defensive midfielder by making a bid for the Portuguese this summer.
However, there does though still remain one major sticking point to a successful deal being completed for Carvalho which centers around Sporting’s own valuation of their star man, who has a whopping buyout clause in his current contract with the club that is valued at £37.5m, a figure that United are unwilling to meet.
But with rival interest in the water carrier from the likes of both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, Moyes and Co may have no choice but to pay that figure if they still want to sign Carvalho.