Manchester City have once again denied rumours linking them with Sporting left-back Nuno Mendes following reports from Portugal insisting that the club were making offers below the Portuguese champions' valuation of the player.
City have told journalists for a second time that they are not interested in signing the 19-year-old this summer, with Jack Gaughan of Mail Sport describing the reiteration as a forceful one.
The Premier League champions have reaffirmed that they have never had an interest in signing the Portugal international, who has consistently been linked to the club in the Portuguese press in a similar fashion to how Bruno Fernandes was two years ago. Perhaps unsurprising given the two players share the same representative – Miguel Pinho.
Simon Bajkowski at the Manchester Evening News reports that the continuous reporting of City's apparent interest in the full-back has led to immense frustration at the club, who are said to have nothing against the player but have no interest in acquiring him.
We briefly summarised reports linking Pep Guardiola's side with Mendes and the club's first denial a few days ago – in which we highlighted that club have probably considered signing the player but have decided against doing a deal anytime soon given the pursuits of Harry Kane and Jack Grealish and Oleksandr Zinchenko's impressive displays last term – particularly in the Champions League – coupled with the difficulty in moving Benjamin Mendy elsewhere.
The latest denial follows reports from Record in Portugal – as relayed by Sport Witness – stating that City will not give up in their advances for Mendes by preparing a new offer of between €30million and €35million after seeing Sporting reject a proposal of €25million plus a player, with the Liga NOS champions demanding €50million.
Written by: @NA1907_
Follow our Twitter account for reliable, live updates on all the latest news surrounding this story and everything Manchester City in real time.