Manchester United and Barcelona interested in Santos attacker Lucas Lima, according to his agent

Manchester United and Barcelona are monitoring Santos attacker Lucas Lima, who would be "well suited" to Italian football, according to his agent Luccas Badia.

Lima joined Brazilian giants Santos from Internacional in 2014 and has won one league title during his spell at the Estádio Urbano Caldeira. The 27-year-old attacker is viewed upon as one of the most talented players in the Brazilian first division, but his time in his homeland may be about to come to an end.

Lima's contract with Santos is set to expire at the end of December and fresh terms do not seem to be forthcoming. The Brazil international's situation has apparently alerted Barcelona, who are still scouring the market for new offensive players after losing Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, and United, who failed to sign Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic during the summer transfer window.

Baddia, Lima's representative, spoke about United and Barca's interest but thinks his client would flourish in Serie A. Roma and Inter Milan are believed to be targeting the playmaker who was pursued by Crystal Palace and Fenerbahce during the summer, but Santos, for reasons unknown, decided not to cash in on the former Rio Preto star, who will be available for free in a few months.

"Inter, Roma and Barcelona are keeping close tabs on Lucas, Manchester United want him," Badia told Turkish newspaper Haberturk .

"I think we would be well suited to the Serie A but we will see. His contract ends on 31 December and there are many clubs interested but I am not sure what Santos is trying to do.

"Crystal Palace made a €15 million offer while Fenerbahce made a €20 million bid but for some reason neither has been accepted."

Barcelona's need to sign Lima may be greater than United's; record signing Ousmane Dembele was recently ruled out for up to three months with a nasty hamstring injury, while the failure to sign Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho has left them slightly short of genuine quality in the wide areas, though they have not found goalscoring a problem during the embryonic stages of the new campaign.

On the other hand United have a wealth of attacking options, with the likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku starting the season in fine fettle. Jose Mourinho's men are the joint-top scorers in the Premier League so far and have netted three goals or more in five of their eight matches in all competitions this season.