Manchester United chase Benfica midfielder nicknamed ‘The Octopus’

Benfica midfielder Florentino Luis has been attracting attention from top European clubs and ESPN has named Manchester United as one of them.

That sends us into a rush to find out more about the player — but we’ll give it a few days at least before getting really excited to see whether other respected outlets jump on the story too.

It is claimed that the player’s agent, Bruno Carvalho Santos, met with United officials in January.

Florentino, who turns 21 in August, enjoyed his breakthrough season at Benfica in 2018-19.

This season has been a difficult one for him, though. Due to injuries and Julian Weigl’s arrival from Borussia Dortmund.

According to the ESPN report, Florentino is nicknamed “O Polvo” — the Octopus — for the way he covers so much ground and wins possession in midfield.

At youth level, Florentino has represented Portugal on the international stage.

His agent told ESPN: “Florentino is one of the highest rated young defensive midfielders in Europe, so there is a lot of interest in him at the moment.

“There has been a lot of talk about Milan, but I can tell you that there is a lot of competition for his services, with clubs in England, Germany and Spain also following him closely.”

With Bruno Fernandes at United, more Portuguese players will want to join United when we come knocking and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is creating the perfect environment for youngsters like Florentino to become better players.

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