Manchester United will reportedly need to pay only €18m to secure the services of highly-rated Brazilian striker Marcos Leonardo.
Leonardo has been strongly linked to United in the past.
It was previously relayed that Erik ten Hag’s side are open to signing a forward to ease some of the goalscoring burden currently on the shoulders of Rasmus Hojlund.
While the Dane has struggled to open his account in the Premier League, he is flying in the Champions League.
Hojlund has netted five times in Europe and is currently the competition’s joint-top scorer alongside Atletico’s Alvaro Morata.
Despite his promising start to life at Old Trafford, there is a general acceptance that he needs help so as to allow the team to kick up a few extra levels.
Leonardo’s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, recently revealed that her client turned down summer offers from big European clubs as he was keen on staying at Santos for an extra season and helping them as much as possible.
Pimenta stated that Leonardo is now eager to sign for an elite team as early as when the winter transfer window opens and prove that he can play at an elite level.
Rumours have been circulating in Brazil that parties interested in Leonardo could land the talisman for a cut-price sum.
This has seemingly been confirmed by journalist Jorge Nicola who says that Santos have lowered their asking fee for Leonardo from his release clause worth €100 million to just €18m.
Santos are keen on rewarding the loyalty the player demonstrated when he opted to stay at the club for a bit longer and as such, do not want to block him from leaving by asking for too much money.
Nicola adds that there is a broad agreement in place between Leonardo and Santos president Andres Rueda, for the striker to depart for much less than the value of his release clause.
This could be the big break United needed to add one of South America’s highest-rated talents to their ranks, ahead of other rivals.