Manchester City will battle Manchester United to try sign William Carvalho

MAN CITY are trying to hijack neighbours United’s £32million deal for Sporting Lisbon’s William Carvalho.

CITY TARGET: William Carvalho is on Manuel Pellegrini's radar

United and City clash at Old Trafford on Tuesday night in the Manchester derby and are now battling over the Portugal midfielder.

Carvalho, 21, has emerged as United boss David Moyes’ main midfield target – alongside Bayern Munich’s Toni Kroos.

KEEN TO HAVE HIM: Manuel Pellegrini and Manchester City have officially declared their interest in the Portugese midfielder

But City – aware of United’s move for Carvalho – have now officially declared their interest.

That’s despite also wanting another defensive midfi elder in Portugal in Porto’s Fernando. City boss Manuel Pellegrini is said to be hugely impressed by the powerful Carvalho.

And when Txiki Begiristain, technical director at The Etihad, asked Sporting for a price, he was quoted £32m.

City scouts have made regular checks over the last month on Carvalho, whose representatives are understood to have been at United in the last week for talks.

IMPRESSED: The 21-year-old has caught the eye of many clubs around Europe

The worry for United is that Carvalho may prefer to move to a club who can offer Champions League involvement next season. It looks as if the only way United can is to win this season’s competition.

Meanwhile, City are also keeping a close eye on Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes, who is leaving the Nou Camp in the summer as a free agent.

A potential stumbling block, though, is that Valdes, 32, would want regular first-team action and at City he would have to compete with England’s Joe Hart. Monaco have been leading the chase for Valdes.