Manchester United hand second trial to Gabriel Martinelli, permanent transfer possible

Manchester United have handed Brazilian forward Gabriel Martinelli, who plays for Sao Paulo-based Ituano, a trial with a view to a permanent transfer.

The 16-year-old forward is currently at United's Carrington training facility as the coaches run the rule over him. He was afforded a chance to impress during the Red Devils youth team's 2-0 win over Lincoln City Under-18's on Wednesday night (26 July).

United's official site reported that Martinelli came on in the 60<sup>th minute of the game as a replacement for regular youth team forward Nishan Burkart. According to ESPN, it is the Brazilian's second stint with United and the Red Devils are said to be considering making him their fifth youth team signing this summer.

Theo Richardson was the latest player to join the United youth setup when he signed a permanent deal after arriving for a temporary stint at the end of last season. Prior to the Englishman, the 20-time English champions welcomed Millen Baars from Ajax, Largie Ramazani from Charlton and Aliou Badara Traore from Sarcelles following a stint with French giants Paris Saint-Germain.

Jose Mourinho has focused on strengthening the youth teams along with the arrivals for the first-team and Martinelli could be the latest addition this summer. The Brazilian forward will become United's seventh signing overall following the first-team additions of Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof.

The Portuguese manager, meanwhile, has made it clear that he is not done strengthening the senior squad and has confirmed the need for at least two more signings. He wants to bring in a defensive midfielder to improve the balance in the middle of the park and add further potency to his attack by signing a winger. Eric Dier, Nemanja Matic and Ivan Perisic are on top of the manager's wishlist, but hefty demands are seeing potential deals being delayed.