Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool have a strong interest in signing the Dutch youth defender Melayro Bogarde, nephew of the former Chelsea defender Winston Bogarde, with each club intensively scouting the 15-year-old.
Bogarde, who plays for Feyenoord, is a target for the four Premier League clubs once he becomes 16 on 28 May. Until then the Holland under-16 international is a free agent .
United have instructed their Dutch scout, Henny de Regt, hired by the club when Louis van Gaal was manager, to monitor Bogarde. De Regt works closely with Nicky Butt, the head of United’s academy, and has watched Bogarde play several times.
Bogarde is 6ft 1in and a technically accomplished defender, and is also attracting Pep Guardiola’s attention. The City head coach has signed the 16-year-old Spanish defender Eric García from Barcelona, who is of a similar mould.
The hope is Bogarde would offer the same ball-playing style that moved Guardiola to make John Stones his No1 target when the Catalan tookover last summer. Stones was signed for £47.5m from Everton last August.
In May City were given a two-year ban - the second year suspended – covering the acquisition of youth players from the academy of a Premier League or EFL club, who were registered in the last 18 months. Bogarde does not fall into this category.
The next time scouts of United, City, Chelsea and Liverpool are expected to gather to watch Bogarde is early next month.
Then he will play for Feyenoord’s youth team at De Kleuver Copa, a two-day under-17 tournament on 12 and 13 August, staged at Tiel in the central Netherlands.
The competition, in its 22nd edition, features Bogarde’s Feyenoord in Pool B alongside teams from West Ham United, PSV, Anderlecht, Altinordu and Tiel’s RKTVC.
Arjen Robben, Memphis Depay and Giovanni van Bronckhorst are among the players who have played in the tournament.