Alex Ferguson is strongly considering adding to the Portuguese contingent at Manchester United by making a transfer-window move for Miguel Veloso, Sporting Lisbon's impressive young midfielder.
Ferguson, taking the advice of his assistant Carlos Queiroz, has identified Veloso as the next potential star to emerge from the Sporting youth ranks that also produced Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani.
Veloso, who has broken into the Portuguese national side at 21, has been the outstanding player in La Liga this season and it is a measure of United's interest that Ferguson's brother Martin, the club's chief scout, has been a virtual ever-present recently at the Estadio Jose Alvalade XI. United have been represented at six of Veloso's last seven matches.
Veloso is predominantly a holding midfielder, a position in which Ferguson is hardly short of players. Owen Hargreaves is a specialist, Michael Carrick and Anderson are both accomplished players in the position and Paul Scholes also has a deep-lying role. Ferguson has been slowly modifying his line-up to a 4-2-3-1 system and he has received glowing reports about Veloso's ability to break up opposition attacks.
One report from last season details how Veloso outshone Patrick Vieira when Sporting beat Internazionale in the Champions League.
His form has been so impressive that a clutch of other leading clubs, most notably Real Madrid, have also been monitoring him closely but United have a clear advantage because of their long-standing association with Sporting and it is thought there have already been informal talks.
The official line from Sporting is that they do not want to sell their best players but the club are famous for developing outstanding youngsters and then selling them on and they have informed Veloso's representatives that they will not try to block a move if the money is right.
It would take a substantial bid to prise him away from Lisbon - potentially in the region of €14 million - because Veloso agreed a six-year contract in January and the price could rise if, as expected, Madrid confirm their interest in the new year.
Veloso, a member of Benfica's youth academy before defecting to Sporting at the age of 14, comes from a famous sporting family - his father Antonio is a former Portugal international defender. He broke into the Sporting team last season and can also play at centre-half as well as left-back, something that will undoubtedly appeal to Ferguson now that Gabriel Heinze has left United.
With Mikael Silvestre out with a serious knee injury, Patrice Evra is the solitary left-footed defender in Ferguson's squad. John O'Shea provides back-up but Ferguson is aware this is the one part of his team where he is short of players. Veloso's performance will, therefore, be of acute interest when Sporting visit Old Trafford next Tuesday in the Champions League.
