Despite having already secured the signing of Memphis Depay from PSV Eindhoven, our resident Manchester United fans drinking in the Football Transfer Tavern are restless.
They’re restless because that particular deal was concluded some weeks ago and there seems to be a real lack of concrete information concerning the Red Devils acquiring their next transfer targets in Louis van Gaal’s rebuilding job.
Perhaps linked with more transfer targets than any other club, our Red Devils fans take no comfort from this due to the fact that it appears van Gaal is not close to closing in on who exactly his second summer signing is as yet.
There remains a few areas to sort out at Old Trafford this summer with David De Gea still yet to sign for Real Madrid and a potential replacement perhaps being required.
This is not to mention central defence where United continue to be linked with Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos who sceptics claim is using the Red Devils’ interest to negotiate a better deal at the Bernabeu.
There is no doubting that Sergio Ramos would be a wonderful signing for United but club legend Gary Neville has already taken to Twitter to claim talk of a £40 million switch plus De Gea in part-exchange is sheer nonsense.
More recently, Real Madrid have been linked with Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny as a potential replacement for Ramos but if United do eventually get their own way and land the Spanish international, who else could be joining him at Old Trafford?
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 players to follow Sergio Ramos to Manchester United this summer.
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Carlos Bacca
There is a real lack of available world class forwards on the transfer market this summer and it seems that this short commodity is proving a problem for the likes of Manchester United.
With Memphis Depay not an out-and-out forward, Louis van Gaal still needs somebody to replace the departed Radamel Falcao and one man who has been linked is his Colombian international team-mate Carlos Bacca.
Liverpool have been more heavily linked with the Sevilla man so far this summer but the noises from the press yesterday were that United are hell bent on hijacking a deal while landing Bacca for themselves.
A clinical finisher, some United fans question whether he is truly world class and at an age of 28 to boot.
However, the likes of Karim Benzema and Edinson Cavani simply don’t seem available so far this summer transfer window and United may have to plump for somebody of Bacca’s calibre instead.
Nicolas Otamendi
At one stage, it looked as though a Manchester United switch for Valencia’s Nicolas Otamendi looked like something of a formality.
Talk of a Red Devils transfer has subsided in recent weeks however and Metro are now reporting that is is cross-town rivals Manchester City who have also joined the race for the Argentine’s services.
If United do indeed end up landing Sergio Ramos, their need for Otamendi will of course be lessened but the problem is that most United fans think landing the Spanish international is too tough a task, hence their desperation to secure Otamendi.
A few days back, the Daily Star claimed that Otamendi is willing to lodge a transfer request to force a move away from the Mestalla.
The publication did claim that United are indeed willing to match his £35 million buy-out clause however so there may be some hope yet.
Morgan Schneiderlin
There was significant movement on the future of Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin yesterday after the French international claimed that his future will be tied up in the coming days ahead of Saints resuming their training.
It seems that it is a straight fight out between both Arsenal and United to secure Schneiderlin’s signature but the Red Devils may be outsiders to complete the deal at present with the bookies having slashed the odds on the Saints man joining the Gunners this summer.
With talk of a switch for Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan having gone completely quiet, Manchester United fans are watching this space carefully and hope they can beat the Gunners to the punch regarding this signing.
Having performed over 200 times for Southampton, both Arsenal and Manchester United fans know exactly what they’ll be getting from Schneiderlin and this is part of his allure in regards to the fact that he’ll slot into whichever team seamlessly.
This is a deal that could go either way in a matter of hours rather than weeks.
Bastian Schweinsteiger
If Arsenal do manage to beat Manchester United to Schneiderlin’s signature then expect United to pull out all of the stops to sign Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Recently, United fans were sent into transfer overdrive after the BBC confirmed that United are definitely looking at both Sergio Ramos and the German international this summer.
The latest is that Bayern club legend Franz Beckenbauer has come out and claimed Schweinsteiger should flat out reject a summer switch to Old Trafford, suggesting that United could well be some way into negotiations for the World Cup winner.
That said, we saw last summer following Toni Kroos’ switch from Bayern to Real Madrid that Beckenbauer is sometimes powerless to convince players to remain at the Allianz Arena and United fans are hoping the player ignores the advice of the former German international.
Contrary to Beckenbauer’s beliefs, reports from Metro claim Schweinsteiger has already been cleared to sign for United with Bayern refusing to extend his contract under Pep Guardiola.
Perhaps this is part of the reason why Arsenal are now odds on to sign Morgan Schneiderlin and not United?
Watch this space.
Hugo Lloris
Manchester United received positive news from Metro last night regarding the immediate future of Tottenham number one Hugo Lloris.
United fans are still fully expecting David De Gea to swap Old Trafford for Rafael Benitez’s Real Madrid this summer but they could be about to replace the Spaniard with a fellow world class stopper in Lloris who has now reportedly received permission to make a summer switch.
Spurs will reportedly allow him to sign for United for £17.8 million with L’Equipe claiming Daniel Levy won’t have any option but to sell for that price.
United fans would snap your hand off for this deal to be concluded with the consensus that Victor Valdes should remain as a number two with Lloris taking the number one position while securing Champions League football that he has been missing out on at his time at Spurs.
