Alex Grimaldo was watched in action by the Manchester City boss yesterday.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola
The Daily Mail is reporting that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola went on a scouting mission to Portugal yesterday to check out Benfica left-back Alex Grimaldo – citing reports in Portugal.
The report claims that Guardiola attended the game between Benfica and Braga last night with his brother Pere to see the 21-year-old in action.
Guardiola will know the player well from his time at Barcelona – who he left for Benfica in the summer.
The talented defender was highly rated at Barcelona, but never had a chance to prove himself in the first-team due to the club’s strength in depth in that position.
Benfica’s Estadio da Luz
The Spanish under-21 international has a massive £51 million release clause in his Benfica contract, but that is a normal price for a buy-out clause for Portuguese clubs and would not likely be the fee a team would need to pay to get hold of Grimaldo.
Manchester City currently have two good left-back options in Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy. However, Guardiola has been using the Serbian centrally at times this season while it is not yet clear if he is overly keen on the Frenchman.
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