Manchester United fans in the Football Transfer Tavern usually fill the bar more than most other fan bases at the moment purely given the fact that they are eager to hear the latest on the futures of Ilkay Gundogan and Morgan Schneiderlin.
With Memphis Depay already in the bag after agreeing to move from PSV Eindhoven, Louis van Gaal is now reportedly targeting a new central midfielder who can compete with the likes of Michael Carrick, Daley Blind and Marouane Fellaini.
Out of Gundogan and Schneiderlin, our resident Red Devils are split with some claiming Gundogan is the better player but others claiming he’s more injury prone and doesn’t already boast experience of the Premier League like Schneiderlin.
The general consensus however is that either player would represent a fantastic addition in the middle of the park for United but that said, van Gaal will know that he has to shift a lot of the deadwood before he can think about strengthening, such is the size of the Red Devils’ squad.
With players returning from loan spells as well, we have taken this moment to short-list the five players who Manchester United simply must sell this summer.
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Click on Fred the Red below to reveal the 5 players the Red Devils must sell this summer.
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Rafael
At one point under Sir Alex Ferguson, it had looked like both twin brothers Rafael and Fabio da Silva were set to become mainstays in the United starting line-up for the next decade or so.
With Fabio now at Cardiff City and Rafael out injured in the wilderness, those visions are in tatters with van Gaal having grown accustomed to deploying Antonio Valencia at right back and the sheer fact that United fans were growing tired of Rafael’s defensive deficiencies anyway!
Rafael has always been a hot headed player whose heart often overrules his head and these kind of deficiencies have cost United on previous occasions.
The general feeling inside the tavern is that United should be looking to trump Liverpool to the signing of Southampton’s England international full back Nathaniel Clyne and if that move were to come to pass, you could bet your bottom dollar that Rafael would receive his marching orders for good.
He’d just hope he could do better than his brother and Cardiff however!
Jonny Evans
Much like Rafael, another long serving United player whose deficiencies are starting to wear a little thin with the Red Devils’ fanbase is Jonny Evans.
A veteran of 131 Premier League appearances to date, Evans has rotated with Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and even Northern Irish international team-mate Paddy McNair in 2014/15 but United fans would be lying if they claimed they felt safe with Evans marshalling the back line.
Simply inconsistent, there are days where Evans looks the part but he doesn’t maintain such form on a consistent basis, always leaving United fans to depart Old Trafford with dreamy visions of capturing the likes of Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels instead!
United are still rumoured to be interested in Valencia’s Nicolas Otamendi this summer and with Marcos Rojo still harbouring hopes of playing as a centre back for United long-term, perhaps van Gaal may decide to part with Evans this summer.
If they do decide to part with him, they could be receiving £10 million from Aston Villa who are reportedly interested in the Northern Ireland captain.
Javier Hernandez
He may have experienced a personal moment of glory, having scored the goal to down Atletico Madrid for Real Madrid at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League but even this won’t be enough to persuade Louis van Gaal to retain the Mexican international this summer.
Hernandez has just endured a tough loan spell at Real Madrid where he was used sparingly given the fact that he simply isn’t good enough to be performing for a club of Real’s stature.
That said, Chicharito is still in the peak of his career at 27 and could undoubtedly do a job for a club where he’d be the main man up front, playing week in, week out.
Given his age, the striker could represent a good bargaining chip for United to use in order to land other targets this summer.
For example, if they were going for the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, surely Southampton would be interested in landing Hernandez as part of a potential deal?
Nick Powell
Remember him? You could forgive United fans for having forgot about Nick Powell altogether, such has been his fall from the spotlight after bursting onto the scene with Crewe Alexandra back in 2010.
Still just 21-years-old, Powell is one of those players who desperately needs a permanent switch away from Old Trafford in order to fulfil his potential showcased at such a young age at Gresty Road.
Powell did actually manage to secure a loan switch to a Premier League outfit in Leicester City at the start of 2014/15 but didn’t figure in Nigel Pearson’s plans, featuring just three times in the top flight for the Foxes.
He did however figure more prominently for Wigan Athletic on loan in 2013/14 and you feel that a permanent switch to the likes of a Derby County in the second tier would make everybody sit up and take notice once more.
When glancing over Powell’s Wikipedia page, his United record is still pretty potent however.
After all, he registered a goal on his United debut back in 2012 in a 4-0 victory over the Latics meaning he currently has one goal in two United appearances!
Nani
Much like Javier Hernandez, Nani is an unwanted leftover of the Sir Alex Ferguson regime and will most probably end up exiting Old Trafford on a permanent basis this summer.
Having said that, he did enjoy a prosperous loan spell back at Sporting Lisbon this past season but many Red Devils punters are claiming that’s all well and good but ultimately it was in the inferior Portuguese Primeira Liga, a much lesser competition than the likes of the Premier League.
Down the years Nani has been a great frustrater, capable of magic and a few somersaults in the process on his day but his day never came that regularly enough to convince United fans and the watching world that he was indeed the man to take over Cristiano Ronaldo’s crown at Old Trafford.
Like Hernandez, Nani is still somewhat in his prime at the age of 28 and could again represent a good bargaining chip to land the transfer targets van Gaal truly desires this summer.
The latest is that fallen Serie A giants Inter Milan are keen on doing a deal for the Portuguese international.
