MANCHESTER UNITED and Liverpool have suffered a blow in their battle to sign Brazil star Andre Trindade, according to reports.
SunSport exclusively revealed that Fulham were desperate to beat their Premier League rivals to the signing of the Fluminense midfielder.
The Cottagers are in the market for a playmaker amid interest in Joao Palhinha, who nearly joined Bayern Munich in the summer.
And The Standard are now reporting that Fulham are leading the chase for Andre.
He has emerged as one of the best talents in South America and has three Brazil caps to his name.
The 22-year-old has been on the radar of Liverpool for some time and they tried to sign him in January.
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But Fluminense refused to sell during their Copa Libertadores campaign.
And it proved to be a wise decision, with the Brazilians going on to win the South American equivalent of the Champions League.
Now, with the domestic campaign ending next month, they are open to selling the player.
Club president Mario Bittencort even has an agreement with the him that he could leave in January.
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They are set to demand a fee of £30million for Andre.
Fulham reportedly moved ahead of Man Utd and Liverpool after chief Alistair Mackintosh flew to Brazil for face-to-face talks last week.
He was there as Fluminense beat Boca Juniors in the final of the Copa Libertadores too.
Fulham are also potentially in for a new striker after losing Aleksandar Mitrovic prior to the start of the season.
Marco Silva will supposedly be backed in the transfer market after penning a new contract at the club and he is keen on Wolfsburg ace Jonas Wind.
The 24-year-old Dane has interest from many sides and has nine goals in 13 games this season.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
