Returning to Premier League action against Watford at Vicarage Road earlier, our Manchester United supporters streamed into the Football Transfer Tavern for today’s early kick-off after the international break.
Registering what in the end turned out to be a comfortable 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion prior to the break, at the time of writing, United were currently keeping up with the pack in fourth place right now and only two points behind joint league leaders Manchester City and Arsenal.
If one thing is to cost Manchester United as we march on towards the business end of the season, it’ll be their lack of goals compared to the other teams in the upper reaches of the Premier League.
In the twelve league games played so far, United have registered 17 goals compared to City, Arsenal and Leicester who’ve achieved hauls of 26, 22 and 25 respectively.
That said, United have conceded fewer than these three teams, suffering just eight opposition strikes compared to 9, 9 and 20.
With these statistics in mind, we’re getting our Italian heads on today while devising a list of five Serie A stars that should be on Louis van Gaal’s radar for the January transfer window.
Could any of these five ‘do a Darmian’ my moving across Europe this winter?
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Click on the image below to reveal the five Serie A stars who should be on Manchester United’s January radar.
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Gonzalo Higuain
Ten days ago, The Mirror claimed Chelsea were looking into a sensational deal to sign Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain following Diego Costa’s appalling start to his second full season in English football.
Although a deal of this kind may only be possible in the summer when even then, it’d prove an ambitious deal to pull off, we think Manchester United should at least be making contact over the Argentine’s situation at the Stadio San Paolo right now.
Seemingly one of those players who is incessantly linked with England’s top dogs all year round, Higuain surely has another huge move in him after his Napoli spell?
Enduring a terrible last 18 months having lost out in both the finals of the World Cup and Copa America, Higuain is still a class act and with United’s Wayne Rooney struggling to get anywhere near 20 goals a season, van Gaal needs a clinical marksman such as Higuain to match up alongside the likes of City’s Sergio Aguero.
Daniele Rugani
A hugely promising player, yet one who is still yet to make an appearance in Serie A for Juventus so far this season, Daniele Rugani is understandably at the forefront of the transfer rumours right now.
Linked heavily with both United and Arsenal by The Independent, we think the Red Devils’ need to sign Rugani is greater with van Gaal having missed out on landing both Sergio Ramos and Nicolas Otamendi in the summer.
With Juve having secured full ownership of Rugani in the summer, the expectation was that he’d be receiving more game time but it hasn’t proved the case with the old guard of Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli proving immovable so far.
Another young Italian defender in Darmian has done well at Old Trafford so far and we think an enquiry for what appears to be a dispensable star is the very least United should try this January.
Domenico Berardi
Back at the end of October, Metro reported that Manchester United were lining up a January transfer window swoop for Sassuolo’s main man up top, Domenico Berardi.
While United fans would of course love to land a marquee striker such as Gonzalo Higuain, perhaps the Red Devils’ best bet of filling the goal gap sooner than next summer resides in a potential swoop for an up-and-coming star in Berardi rather than a ready-made talent.
Still just 21-years-old, Berardi boasts an impressive goalscoring record of 44 Serie A strikes in 105 appearances since 2012 and understandably, United are keen alongside their great rivals Liverpool.
The only question that remains is that Berardi isn’t a full out-and-out forward however and much like Anthony Martial, is in that winger-cum-striker mould but with a goalscoring record like his, does this even matter at all?
Lucas Biglia
At one point in the summer, it looked as if United might be adding a third defensive midfielder to their ranks in just a single transfer window but Lucas Biglia remains at Lazio…for now anyway.
He’s back among the United rumours at the minute however with Metro claiming the Red Devils could beat fellow suitors Real Madrid to his signature with a superior contract on the table.
With the reports claiming a £2.45 million-a-year deal is being prepared by United in comparison to Madrid’s offer of £2.1 million, Biglia will have a decision to make.
You might be thinking why United would be interested in another midfielder at all given Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin’s arrivals in the summer but with Michael Carrick potentially set to move on next summer, this is the basis behind the Biglia rumours with “El Principito” undoubtedly a class act.
Kamil Glik
Back in September, it was reported by talkSPORT among other publications that Manchester United target Kamil Glik was set to sign a new deal at the Italian club, doubling his wages to £20,000-a-week to boot.
However, since then the Glik rumours have gone quiet but we believe a new deal is yet to be signed by the Polish international.
Torino are of course the club that sold Matteo Darmian to United in the summer and with this business having gone smoothly, we wonder whether Louis van Gaal will be picking up the phone to the Italian club again.
Glik currently captains Torino and is an experienced Polish international of 33 caps. Given United have relied upon Daley Blind so much at centre back in Phil Jones’ absence so far this season, we feel United could do with another top centre half so it’s probably worth Ed Woodward checking back with Torino for Glik’s current availability.
