Manchester City will not pay Sporting Lisbon left-back Nuno Mendes’s €70m (£60m) release clause, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Writing in his column for CBS Sports, the Italian journalist revealed that the Citizens are interested in the teenager but they are only monitoring him at this stage.
Manager Pep Guardiola is keen to strengthen his options on the left side of defence this summer, and Mendes is just one of a number of players that the club are considering.
The Portuguese Under 21 international has also been linked with the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal in recent months, having made his first-team breakthrough at the back end of last season.
However, Sporting’s insistence that any club pay Mendes’s buyout fee will likely put off any suitors, especially as the 18-year-old lacks experience, having made just 35 appearances in senior football. He is, though, a player to keep an eye on over the coming years.
