Manchester City and Manchester United could both look to sign a player who endured a poor loan stint at Wolves.
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City have had a difficult season so far and are battling to finish in the top four come the end of the campaign, with all hope of the title now gone.
They made a few signings in January, bringing forward a rebuild.
That will continue in the summer, as new sporting director Hugo Viana looks to get City back on track.
And Viana could well look to raid his former club Sporting CP for a player who had an unsuccessful loan spell at Molineux. As could Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim.
The player in question is not Vitinha, who is a pretty well-known case of someone who struggled on loan at Wolves.
But the man of interest to City and United is none other than Francisco Trincao.
- READ MORE: He flopped for Wolves on loan, now he’s in the Champions League and outperforming Matheus Cunha
Francisco Trincao could make Manchester City or Manchester United transfer after failed Wolves loan stint
It’s been reported by A Bola that both Manchester City and their rivals Manchester United could make a move for Trincao this summer.
Both clubs hold him in very high regard, with the star having a good season over in Portugal.
He has made 40 appearances so far, scoring nine goals and laying on 13 assists.
His quality is not lost on Sporting though, who are keen to renew his contract at the Jose Alvalade Stadium. But one wonders if Trincao will feel he has unfinished business in the Premier League.
Trincao failed at Wolves
Wolves signed Trincao on loan from Barcelona ahead of the 2021/22 season when Bruno Lage was in charge.
The move had fans extremely excited, with Trincao having a genuinely good reputation. It was seen as a real coup by the club.
But Trincao unfortunately never lived up to the hype, and only really produced a handful of good performances in old gold – his best coming when he scored and assisted in a 3-2 defeat to Leeds United in March 2022.
Clinton Morrison called Trincao ‘the star of the show’ against Leeds, but he never really built on that display.
| Francisco Trincao on loan at Wolves |
| Appearances – 30 |
| Minutes played – 1388 |
| Goals – 3 |
| Assists – 1 |
One of the main criticisms of Trincao was that he could not deal with the physicality of the Premier League. He also just couldn’t build any kind of consistency and struggled to fully earn the trust of Lage.
Lage admitted Trincao ‘was not so good’ for Wolves in January and February of that campaign but in truth, he really did struggle to win over the fans throughout the entirety of his stint.
Wolves always had an option to buy Trincao for around £25 million (E&S), but felt his performances did not warrant the club exercising that fee.
But Trincao has clearly done fairly well since leaving Molineux and now finds himself attracting attention from City and United, and it will be very intriguing to see if he does head back to England.