City Have £18m Bid Rejected For Brazilian Teenage Prodigy

Sao Paulo have turned down a €20m (£18m) bid from Manchester City for winger Antony, according to reports in Brazil.

The Citizens were linked with a move for the 19-year-old last month and it appears that the club have now followed up their interest with a concrete offer.

City were intending to sign Antony before sending him out on loan to Sporting Lisbon, but the bid, which could have reached €25m (£22.4m) after bonuses, was not deemed good enough by Sao Paulo.

The club’s CEO Alexandre Passaro confirmed earlier in the week that they had indeed rejected a bid for the player:

“The window started nine days ago and there are 50 more ahead, but our aim is to hold the boys in. Proof of this is that we declined a proposal of more than €20m for Antony last week.”

Antony reportedly has a €50m (£45m) release clause, and it is believed that the forward was tempted by the wage on offer from City, but decided against forcing through a move. The teenager is said to be happy to continue his development at Sao Paulo, for the time being at least.