The 23-year-old, Eliaquim Mangala is one of the highly-coveted central defenders in Europe and he is tipped for a big money move away from Portugal. Top European clubs are lining up a move for his services in the summer with Porto resigned to losing their star defender, albeit for a massive fee.

The Portuguese club have slapped a hefty price-tag on Mangala, who reportedly has a release clause of £35 million inserted into his contract. With many clubs vying for his signature, the reigning Primeira Liga champions are in a position to not sell unless a club meets the defender’s buy-out clause.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho enquired about his services in January but instead chose to spend Roman’s money on Kurt Zouma, who is just 19 years and possesses raw talent. However, Mangala is the finished article and the Blues are also linked with a summer move for the French international.

John Terry is coming to the end of his Chelsea career and Mourinho is keen to draft in Mangala as his replacement. Fellow centre-back David Luiz looks likely to be sold to Barcelona and that could generate enough money to land a ready-made replacement defender.

However, according to Daily Star, United have stepped up their pursuit of Mangala and Moyes has already sent his scouts on three separate occasions to monitor his services so Chelsea may not find buying Eliaquim Mangala quite so easy.