£8m Cicinho flies into Old Trafford
Manchester United have opened talks with Brazilian international Cicinho, according to The Mirror.
The Sao Paulo defender flew into Manchester by private jet on Wednesday night to discuss a move to Old Trafford.
The 25-year-old right-back impressed during Brazil's recent Confederations Cup victory and has been earmarked by coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to replace ageing skipper Cafu.
Cicinho, full name Cicero Joao De Cezare, has an £8 million release cause and that would be the price United, and new owners the Glazers, would have to pay.
The Brazilian's trip to Manchester appears something of a u-turn after expressing a wish to sign for Milan only days ago.
'I want to play in Italy," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. 'It has been my dream since I was a child.
'I would like to join Milan. They are the strongest side in Europe. But there are also Inter and Juventus and I often speak to Adriano and Emerson about them.'
Cicinho's arrival will put a question mark over Gary Neville's automatic place in the United team, although the England right-back can also fill in at the heart of the back-line.
Meanwhile, Ruud van Nistelrooy has predicted Manchester United team-mates Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo will eventually dominate the world game.
At 29, van Nistelrooy is by far the elder statesman in an attacking trio Sir Alex Ferguson hopes will steer the Red Devils back to the pinnacle of the English game this season.
All three men found the target in United's 3-0 triumph over Debrecen on Tuesday, which virtually guaranteed the Old Trafford men their usual place in the Champions League group stages.
With 37 goals in 40 European games and 127 overall for the Red Devils since his £18.5million move from PSV Eindhoven four years ago, van Nistelrooy has already propelled himself into the list of all-time United greats.
But, after getting a unique view of the talent Rooney and Ronaldo possess, the prolific Dutchman has no hesitation in predicting his young team-mates will hit even greater heights if they keep progressing at the present rate.
'In a few years, those two will be dominating world football,' said van Nistelrooy in an exclusive MUTV phone-in.
'They have such incredible quality. They are ahead of anyone in their world in their age group.
'Not only have they performed at the highest level domestically, they have also done it for their countries as well.'
All three men were stand-out performers during Euro 2004 and will expect to have the same impact during next summer's World Cup.
And for van Nistelrooy, the amazement comes not from what Rooney and Ronaldo have done but, at just 19 and 20 respectively, what they still have the time to do.
'They are so young, there is so much more time for them to improve,' he said.
'They can just get better and stronger every year. It is a fantastic feeling to play with great players and that is what they are.'
While van Nistelrooy is predicting golden futures for Rooney and Ronaldo, he is also aware the biggest concern for United fans, and new owner Malcolm Glazer, is what lies ahead this season.
And the good news from the Old Trafford camp is, just 90 minutes into the new campaign, van Nistelrooy can already see signs this season will show a big improvement on last term's relatively poor scoring return.
'The combination between myself, Wayne and Cristiano is working well,' he said.
'We had the opportunity to work really hard on it in pre-season and we have developed a good link.
'Hopefully we can keep going with that, which will allow us to get even better.'
