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PORTUGAL

Benfica starlet Úmaro Embaló poised to be next big earner

The Portuguese club boast one of the finest academies in Europe and make a decent profit out of it. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United are all watching 16-year-old winger.

Embaló celebra un gol con el Benfica
Reuters

Benfica are widely regarded to have one of the best academies in Europe and in recent years have made a fortune selling their young stars abroad: Gonçalo Guedes and Renato Sanches are just two of the recent youth internationals to have been sold off the production line and the Portuguese club have unearthed another exciting prospect in 16-year-old winger Úmaro Embaló and are already anticipating a juicy profit after renewing the youngster’s contract in anticipation of a bidding war between some of Europe’s wealthiest clubs.

RB Leipzig, who are equally adept at identifying and snapping up young talent, almost landed Embaló in January for 20 million euros but according to the Bundesliga club the demands of the player’s agent scuppered the deal.

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Real, Barça and United in for Embaló

In light of the Portugal under-17 international’s rapid rise, Benfica have arranged an automatic extension to his current deal that will be triggered on his 18th birthday and will consequently run until 2023, adding plenty of value to his price when suitors inevitably start lining up.

Real Madrid, Manchester United and Barcelona are among the clubs monitoring the youngster’s progress and many others will have scouts at the ongoing Algarve Youth Cup, where Embaló scored in Portugal under-17’s 4-0 thrashing of England on Friday.