Mourinho and Guardiola to do battle for former Barça left-back Grimaldo

Benfica left-back Alejandro Grimaldo could provoke another derby in Manchester in terms of a transfer battle between United and City. The two clubs in the English city are watching the former Barcelona defender and could both make a move to sign him. 

Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are both fans of Grimaldo, who was allowed to leave Barcelona earlier this year. He didn’t make an immediate impression at Benfica, but he is now making his mark and on Sunday scored a fine goal from a free-kick.

His overall performance in a 4-0 win over Feirense did not go unnoticed, either, with scouts from Manchester United present at the game. 

Grimaldo, 21, has a contract with the Portuguese club until 2021 and is also being tracked by scouts that Txiki Begiristain and Manchester City have spread across Europe. The player knows Guardiola from his time in La Masia. 

According to the Daily Mail, Guardiola and his brother Pere were in Lisbon watching Grimaldo live just last month. Other interested parties include Valencia, Juventus and Middlesbrough. 

The problem for all those clubs, though, is the high release clause. It stands at 58.5 million euros, an amount which none of the clubs would be ready pay at the moment. The Manchester clubs, therefore, would have to negotiate with Benfica for the left-back.