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The street footballer with the skills of Ronaldinho now cutting it on the left side of Sporting Lisbon's defence... why Liverpool, Man City, Man United and the rest of Europe's elite are battling to land £63m Nuno Mendes

Sporting Lisbon have produced some wonderful attackers over the years - Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes to name a few - but Nuno Mendes may be the best defender to ever come out of their academy.

According to reports in Portugal, several of Europe's elite clubs are monitoring the 18-year-old left back's situation in Lisbon, including Liverpool, Manchester United, AC Milan and Juventus.

It would take the activation of his sizeable £63million release to prise Mendes away from the Portuguese club, so just why is the teenage defender so highly rated?