This summer might be the conclusion of the William Carvalho transfer saga, as the young Portuguese midfield from Sporting CP is being chased by Manchester United, Chelsea and now even Arsenal, hoping to finally sign the young and talented international for less than an outrageous price.

This has been a summer of signings for all three clubs, although Chelsea have made some big sales to help them cover the spending price. They’ve already signed Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Filipe Luis for just over €93 million, while selling David Luiz and Demba Ba. Manchester United have spent their money on Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera for over €73 million. Arsenal have signed Alexis Sanchez and Mathieu Debucy for over €52 million.

All three teams aren’t done making these expenditures. Sporting, a team in something of a financial bind, want nothing less than €45 million for Carvalho who until last season was spending his time on loan. He emerged as probably the best midfielder in the Liga Sagres, earning him a place in the World Cup squad, appearing twice – once against the United States and once against Ghana, reaching six caps for the national side.

Born in Angola, the 22-year old scored four goals for Sporting last season in 29 league matches. He is more defensive in nature, and is capable of playing as a centre back, but he mostly occupies the defensive midfield. Manchester United and Chelsea have shown their interest in him for quite some time, and Arsenal seem to be more recent in their keenness for his skills.

So far there is a very big difference between the sides. Arsenal, like the others, aren’t going to pay more than €30 million for the huge talent, but it seems that it’s going to take a lot more for them to complete this deal, as Sporting, like other Portuguese clubs, don’t recoup 100% of the sale fee with a third-party ownership also involved in these transactions.

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