Our resident Manchester United fans in the Football Transfer Tavern haven’t known a summer like this one with five new faces having already arrived at Old Trafford with it looking like the Red Devils are still far from finished.
The next big name signing expected to be winging his way into the club is Barcelona’s Pedro who BBC Football recently reported is definitely seeking alternatives after growing into a “difficult” situation with his current club.
This difficult situation is of course the fact that Pedro has spent his entire career thus far at the Camp Nou but spends his time residing on the bench more often than not now after the arrival of Luis Suarez from Liverpool last summer.
With Neymar and Lionel Messi representing the other two thirds of Luis Enrique’s devastating attacking trio, it appears Pedro is intent on moving away from the Catalan giants for the sake of his career and regular playing time.
And to be honest, who can blame him at 28-years-old?
With United having recouped £44 million from the sale of Angel Di Maria to Paris Saint-Germain, we fully expect a large chunk of this money to be reinvested into Pedro’s signature but who could be following him to Old Trafford before September 1st?
We take a look at five leading candidates.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 Manchester United transfers waiting to happen after Pedro’s arrival.
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Nicolas Otamendi
He’s been linked with a Manchester United switch incessantly since the end of last season but the Red Devils’ interest in Nicolas Otamendi finally looks as if its coming to a head.
According to talkSPORT among other publications, they claimed today that the Argentine international is very close to becoming a Manchester United player.
Valencia have been playing hardball all summer but the latest is that Nacho Cotino – a Valencia located TV station – claimed they had tax-based proof that Otamendi is on his way to the Premier League.
If true, this will be a great relief to United fans after the club failed in their pursuit to land Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos this summer but make no mistake, Otamendi is a fantastic, tough defender in his own right.
Lucas Biglia
United fans have been tossed into a frenzy this week with multiple publications including Metro claiming the club are closing in on a deal to sign Lazio’s defensive midfielder Lucas Biglia.
The Argentine international is an experienced campaigner and although he is considered a top player, Red Devils fans find it strange that Louis van Gaal is moving to sign a third defensive midfielder in just one summer following the acquisitions of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin.
Perhaps squad space could be freed up via the departures of both Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini whom talkSPORT claim could be on the move out of Old Trafford this summer after being considered bit-part players in van Gaal’s philosophy.
With Fellaini also capable of fulfilling Biglia’s role, perhaps van Gaal is replacing the Belgian with the Argentine just for increased squad depth. Only time will tell on this one.
Nico Gaitan
Either the media have us on with this deal that has seemingly been around since the beginning of time or alternatively, it might finally be happening.
According to yesterday’s Metro, Manchester United were going to announce the signing of Benfica’s Nico Gaitan as early as this week.
The long long-term target of United has been playing his football in Portugal for some time now but the feeling is that the Argentine international should be plying his trade in a far more competitive division.
Metro states that United have settled upon a £28 million deal for Gaitan but given the amount of false dawns that have occurred with this player in the past, we’re not totally believing it until it is done.
Somebody who can play in Pedro’s role on the right wing of course, we’ve seen previously that Louis van Gaal wasn’t scared to sign Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin so if Januzaj is leaving Old Trafford as well as Fellaini, the additions of Biglia, Gaitan and Pedro would undoubtedly be improvements.
Harry Kane
The Mirror have recently claimed that Harry Kane will not be sold by Tottenham Hotspur this transfer window and while you’d imagine that’d be the case, we can’t help but feel Manchester United may make a cheeky bid towards the end of the transfer window.
Linked with a United switch on and off throughout the summer so far, the likes of Phil Neville have already endorsed a Kane transfer to Old Trafford and on the face of it, he looks a player who could work fantastically well with Wayne Rooney.
With Spurs closing in on the signings of Saido Berahino and Clinton N”Jie, they are making moves to bolster their frontline but to part with Kane for those two will still be some ask for United to pull off.
Then again, this is the transfer window folks and stranger things have happened.
Jasper Cillessen
Perhaps Manchester United may not need another goalkeeper after all this summer following The Guardian‘s reports that David De Gea is finally set to stay at Old Trafford this summer but we’re still not entirely convinced.
De Gea will end up at Real Madrid eventually and with the player in this minddset – and of course dropped by van Gaal against Tottenham at the weekend – it’s somewhat dangerous to have a player like that still on the books.
Sergio Romero enjoyed a comfortable debut between the sticks against Spurs but given his number two status at club sides in the past, many United fans feel that if De Gea did end up departing this summer, they’d need a top class replacement.
Hugo Lloris’ name has been back on the scene of late but Ajax’s Jasper Cillessen is still a player who is never too far away from being linked with United.
If De Gea joins Madrid, we think van Gaal will turn to Cillessen whom he installed as his number one at the World Cup despite calling on the exploits of Tim Krul to shut out the Costa Ricans on penalties in the knockout stages.
