Lopo coy on United interest

Espanyol defender Albert Lopo is coy regarding his future after being watched by Manchester United again at the weekend.

The Red Devils have been long-term admirers of the stopper and dispatched a scout to take in Espanyol's 3-2 defeat to Mallorca on Sunday.

But the United representative is likely to have left disappointed after Lopo was sent off after 54 minutes.

Lopo will have to hope his indiscretion has not scuppered any prospect of a move to The Premiership in the summer, with a string of clubs joining United as admirers.

In addition to the long-standing interest from Old Trafford, Arsenal, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Everton have all been tracking Lopo's progress.

The 25-year-old is out of contract at the end of next season and Espanyol may be tempted to cash in on the centre half this summer.

He has a release fee of ‚é¼9 million (£6 million) in his contract and that is unlikely to deter The Red Devils from pursuing their interest.

Lopo, though, is refusing to be swayed by talk of a summer exit from the Montjuic and wants to channel his energies on helping Espanyol secure a European berth.

"I am only interested in the best results for Espanyol and our objective is to play in Europe," Lopo told skysports.com.

"I don't want to think about any other thing."

Espanyol's sporting director Cristobal Parralo revealed the club have fielded no firm enquiries from any of Lopo's suitors.

Parralo said: "No club has presented a proposition to us for Lopo.

"I only know about the rumours in the newspapers but not of a direct contact."