Greece international defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos is wanted by Manchester City and Manchester United, according to German daily Bild.

 

Papadopoulos currently plays his football in the Bundesliga for Schalke and is rated as one of the club’s most promising prospects.

 

The 20-year-old made 29 appearances in the German top flight last season as Schalke finished an impressive third, booking Champions League football in the process.

 

However notable that was though, Manchester City and Manchester United are both believed to have been excited by the maturity Papadopoulos showed for his country during Euro 2012.

 

The defender was a solid, calming influence for Fernando Santos’ Greece backline and played a key role in helping the Euro 2004 winners to reach the quarter-finals, edging through a group containing co-hosts Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic.

 

Papadopoulos joined Schalke in 2010, moving from Greek giants Olympiacos – he is under contract with the Ruhr giants until 2015.

 

Schalke have found their top talents routinely targeted in recent years and last summer the club lost goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to Bayern Munich.

 

This summer Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has been linked with the exit door, while legendary Spanish forward Raul has already left.

 

Losing a prospect as promising as Papadopoulos would be a big blow for the Bundesliga outfit, who can be guaranteed to fight tooth and nail to keep him in Germany.

 

AC Milan are also believed to hold an interest in the Greek starlet.

 

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