Manchester United want to tie super-talent Alejandro Garnacho to the longest contract ever offered by the club.
United are pushing for the Argentinian teenager to sign on at Old Trafford for EIGHT years. But it's thought his family and close advisors aren't keen to commit to more than a four-year deal with talks also hitting snags over wages.
United's recruitment team are working hard to negotiate a tricky path but insiders insist there's no suggestion they will lose the 18-year-old star who is being hunted by Real Madrid with former club Atletico Madrid also interested after regretting allowing him to leave.
Senior United officials are also considering breaking with club tradition and including a buy-out clause in the youngster's contract - a move popular at European clubs but less so in the Premier League.
It's believed talks have been less than straightforward with Garnacho's performances this season coupled with his fast development attracting the interest of Europe's top teams - and forcing up pay demands.
With just 18 months left on his current deal United are anxious to secure the teenager's future with his electrifying performances making him the new poster boy for a brighter pathway under Erik Ten Hag and look to have agreed a deal at £32,000 per week.
The teenager scored a classy winner as United won 2-1 at Fulham before the World Cup and set up Marcus Rashford 's winner in the Manchester derby with trickery that bamboozled Manchester City defenders.
How good do you think Alejandro Garnacho will be? Let us know here
Garnacho's pace, direct style and cool temperament have marked him out as a special talent - and United are determined he won't slip the net especially with the future of Rashford as yet unresolved.
That means offering the player the most they've ever paid a teenager despite reservations that bowing to his advisors initial demands of over £40,000 per week may not be the ideal way forward.
Ten Hag believes Garnacho must be carefully nurtured after having to reprimand the youngster for time-keeping issues on the club's pre season tour last summer.
It's believed United are now edging closer to a deal after recognising the Spanish-born star may be a generational talent who could be their most valuable asset in future years.