
Man Utd battling City for Sporting captain Morten Hjulmand but ‘must trigger £69million transfer release clause'
MANCHESTER UNITED are reportedly in a transfer battle with Man City for Sporting Lisbon captain Morten Hjulmand.
The Red Devils are looking for a new holding midfielder following the arrivals of attackers Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
Advertisement
5
Morten Hjulmand is gaining interest from Manchester United
Credit: Getty
5
He could cost up to £69million
Credit: Getty
Hjulmand, 26, has established himself as a key figure at the Portuguese outfit since his arrival in 2023.
The midfielder was brought in from Italian outfit Lecce in a £15million transfer.
His performances and experience with manager Ruben Amorim appear to have caught the eye of Man United.
Portuguese outlet A Bola have claimed that the Red Devils are interested in the Denmark international.
Advertisement
READ MORE ON MAN UTD
'What a lovely man' Former Liverpool, Chelsea and Wrexham star Joey Jones dies aged 70
However, Man United will face a fight to bring the midfielder to Old Trafford.
Sporting are said to be demanding that his release clause of £69m is met in order to sanction a sale.
They have already shown that they are not willing to negotiate a lesser deal, as Juventus failed with an offer worth up to £35m.
Sporting have also proved to be tough negotiators during the Viktor Gyokeres transfer saga with Arsenal.
Advertisement
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS
The report has also stated that Man United are keen on the striker but have more interest in Hjulmand.
The Red Devils will also have to compete with cross-city rivals Man City in the race for his signature.
Mbeumo completes Man Utd move
City's sporting director, Hugo Viana, was appointed after he left Sporting in February.
Advertisement
Last season, the Dane made 47 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals and assisting two.
He did pick up SIXTEEN yellow cards and one red card throughout the campaign.
His contract is set to run until 2028.
5
Advertisement
5
Ivan Fresneda is sure that Hjulmand will star in Portugal
Credit: Getty
Sporting full-back Ivan Fresneda has claimed that the Dane is "happy" in Portugal amid transfer speculation.
Speaking after the pre-season victory over Sunderland, the Spaniard told O Jogo: "Hjulmand is our captain and he's very happy here with us, I have no doubt."
Meanwhile, Man United are also on the hunt for a new striker and goalkeeper before the end of the transfer window.
Advertisement
They have failed with an ambitious loan offer for Aston Villa star Emiliano Martinez.
Up front, the club have been linked with the likes of Gyokeres, Nicolas Jackson and Benjamin Sesko.
5
TRANSFER NEWS LIVE - KEEP UP WITH ALL THE LATEST FROM A BUSY SUMMER WINDOW
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
£46m Chelsea flop set for transfer move with club to take huge financial blow
Joao Felix is on the verge of joining Benfica from Chelsea in a deal worth just €25m (£21.7m), according to reports in Portugal. The Blues are set for a significant financial blow over the 25-year-old, given they paid £46m to sign him on a permanent deal less than 12 months ago. Felix, previously dubbed an 'impostor' by football pundit Roy Keane, has struggled since joining Chelsea on a seven-year deal in August 2024. The Portugal international was sent out on loan to AC Milan for the second half of the 2024-25 campaign, where Italian press branded him a 'disaster'. Felix has played 40 games for Chelsea – including his loan spell before they bought him from Atletico Madrid – producing 11 goals and two assists. Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro's Football Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we'll send you so we can get football news tailored to you. According to Portuguese outlet Record, Felix is now 'very close' to making a return to Benfica, the club where he started his senior career. The deal is expected to be finalised by tomorrow (Friday, July 25) with the player keen on a second stint with Benfica. It's believed that Felix could potentially play in Benfica's pre-season friendly clash against Fenerbahçe on Saturday. Felix was once viewed as one of the most exciting talents in the world – with Atletico paying an astronomical fee of £113m to sign him in 2019. But the versatile attacker – who can be deployed as a second striker, centre-forward or winger – has very much failed to live up the hype. 'He has still not found his place,' former Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly told Milan Presse earlier this year. 'He's been at Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, now Milan, without making any real impact. 'At this moment of his career, he needs a club with a clear philosophy that can build [a] project around him, put him at ease to express his potential that we still haven't really seen. More Trending 'What Joao Felix lacks is not technique, but character. He is not a leader.' According to Record, Benfica president Rui Costa has already reserved the No.10 shirt for Felix. The No.10 shirt is considered to be special at Benfica, with Costa donning it himself during his time as a player for the club. It was also worn by the late Eusebio, regarded as one of football's greatest ever players. MORE: Aston Villa respond to Manchester United approach for Ollie Watkins MORE: Declan Rice makes 'shock' prediction for new Arsenal teammate Noni Madueke MORE: Alexander Isak drops transfer bombshell with Liverpool keen on £150m Newcastle star


Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Lewis Hamilton admits 'refusing' Ferrari situation after crunch talks with bosses in Italy
Ferrari have not won an F1 title for more than 15 years but Lewis Hamilton remains confident that he can be the man to get the sport's most famous team back on top Lewis Hamilton said he "refuses" to be the latest Formula 1 megastar to flop at Ferrari despite a tough first half-a-season in red. Kimi Raikkonen was the last man to win the drivers' title with the Italian team, 18 years ago. Since then a swathe of big names have failed to find more glory, including World champions like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton's own Ferrari adventure has got off to a difficult start but the 40-year-old is adamant he can summit the F1 mountain for the eighth time with the famous outfit. Hamilton said: "If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they've had amazing drivers. You've had Kimi, you've had Fernando, you've had Sebastian – all world champions. However, they didn't win a world championship. I refuse for that to be the case with me." To make it happen, Hamilton said he is "going the extra mile" – including multiple visits to Maranello ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix and crunch talks with Ferrari bosses. All of it, he said, focused on creating a car better suited to his needs in 2026. And Hamilton insists he is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers in Italy if it means getting back to winning ways. He said: "I held a lot of meetings. I've called lots of meetings with the heads of the team, so I've sat with [chairman] John [Elkann], [chief executive] Benedetto [Vigna], [team principal] Fred [Vasseur]. And several meetings I've sat with the head of our car development, with Loic [Serra], with also the heads of different departments, talking about the engine for next year, suspension for next year – things that you want, issues that I have with this car. READ MORE: Max Verstappen has head turned as F1 team makes 'extremely good move' to tempt him "I've sent documents through the year. After the first few races, I did a full document for the team. Then, during this break, I had another two documents that I sent in. So, then I come in and want to address those. Some of it is structural adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better in all the areas that we want to improve, and then the other one was really about the current issues that I have with this year's car. "I see a huge amount of potential within this team. The passion, nothing comes close to that. It's a huge organisation with a lot of moving parts, and not all of them are firing on all the cylinders they need to be. That's ultimately why the team's not had the success that I think it deserves. "I feel that it's my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team, particularly the guys that are at the top making the decisions. There's lots of work and improvements to be made, but they've been incredibly responsive. "I'm just trying to really create allies within the organisation and get them geed up. I'm here to win, and I don't have as much time as this one [Kimi Antonelli, 18, sat next to him]. So, it's crunch time. For me, I truly believe in the potential of this team. I really believe they can win multiple world championships moving forwards. They already have an amazing legacy, but during my time, that's my sole goal."


Fashion United
2 hours ago
- Fashion United
Arena appoints former Olympic swimmer Mark Pinger as CBO
Italian swimwear specialist Arena SpA has appointed Mark Pinger as its new chief brand officer (CBO). The former German Olympic swimmer, who has managed Arena's US business as general manager since 2016, will assume his new role on 1 October. The company announced the news on Thursday. As CBO, Pinger will join the company's executive leadership team. He will be based at the global headquarters in Tolentino. Pinger will be responsible for product development, licensing, and brand and sports marketing. He will work closely with teams across all markets. This collaboration aims to further strengthen Arena's presence in competitive swimming, fitness swimming and beachwear. Arena CEO Peter Graschi explained the personnel decision. "Mark's development from Olympic swimmer to chief brand officer demonstrates his great passion for swimming and his close relationship with Arena, the brand that accompanied him during his time on the German national team," he said in a statement. "I am very pleased that Mark will lead our global product and brand organisation." This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@