Manchester United bid for Alex Telles £6m short of Porto's price as stand-off continues

Manchester United and Porto remained at least £6 million apart in their valuations of Brazil left-back Alex Telles as the Premier League club face a race against time to shift the deadwood in their squad.

Porto are holding out for around £18m, but that is substantially more than United are willing to pay for a player who will be free to talk to foreign suitors in January.

United value Telles at about £12m and hope the 27-year-old’s determination to move to Old Trafford will encourage the Portuguese club to lower their demands, but the negotiations are not proving straightforward.

It has been a similar story around United’s pursuit of Jadon Sancho with the Dortmund captain, Marco Reus, insisting yesterday that the England winger would not leave the club this summer. “For us it’s very good that he stays for one more year because he delivers assists, goals and we get points,” Reus said. “He is very important for us.”

United’s battle to sign players has been mirrored by their struggles to offload a host of fringe players. Andreas Pereira joined Lazio on a season-long loan deal on Tuesday, with the Italian club agreeing to cover all of the midfielder’s wages and have an option to buy him for £24.5m next summer.

United will hope Pereira’s departure marks the start of a number of other exits before the close of the transfer window on Monday. Diogo Dalot is attracting interest from AC Milan and Roma are expected to lodge a fresh bid for Chris Smalling, despite the two clubs being apart on valuations.

United are also seeking buyers for goalkeeper Sergio Romero and defenders Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones. Alexis Sánchez left earlier in the summer for Internazionale on a free transfer.