AC Milan beat Man City and Man United to signing of Portuguese defender – report

Manchester City have lost out in the race to sign highly-rated Portuguese defender Tiago Djaló from Sporting CP, with AC Milan reaching an agreement to sign him, Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Italia reports.

City were repeatedly linked with 18-year-old Djaló, who rejected a new contract offer from Sporting, and were said to be ready to offer him a five-year contract to swap Lisbon for Manchester.

Manchester United and Lazio were also interested in Djaló, but AC Milan have defined an agreement to sign him and he will arrive in Milan on Friday to sign a pre-contract ahead of a free transfer in June when his contract with Sporting expires.

For City, it means another youngster they have missed out on lately after Barcelona wonderkid Ilaix Moriba opted to remain at La Masia when the Premier League champions had been expecting him to arrive at their state-of-the-art City Football Academy.