Our Manchester United fans inside the Transfer Tavern are preparing to lose some players this January window.
Ed Woodward has issued Jose Mourinho a ‘sell before you can buy’ warning and our regulars think it’s down to the fact that United’s board are looking to start balancing the books, after several years of over-spending since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
Although to our barman, it seems that most of the United first-team look like their contracts are running out at the end of this season, Mourinho may look to offload a couple early on in this upcoming window to release some funds.
Mourinho will be looking for reinforcements for the second half of the season, to which he’ll look to finish strongly and our landlord thinks he’ll be hoping to still be in with a shout of all four competitions. While Luke Shaw’s inconsistent form has forced Mourinho to look South towards Danny Rose, he knows nothing can happen unless space is available in his squad.
Our Punters take a look at the three players Mourinho will look to move on before plotting a reportedly £50m bid for Rose…
Marouane Fellaini
Fellaini has seemingly held the United board to ransom this season over a new contract. While he attracts a lot of interest from clubs around Europe, reluctantly Mourinho may need to sell such, in his eyes, an important player.
Moving Fellaini on will please the Old Trafford faithful due to the Marmite effect the Belgian has had on the United fans, though would deprive the Portuguese of one of his stalwarts.
Luke Shaw
To make room for Rose, the obvious choice out of the door, is the guy he’s going to replace. This may include a swap deal with Spurs or a move to a mid-table club which could relate more to Shaw’s level.
Either way, it looks like Shaw’s days at United are coming to an end unless a real turn around in fortunes can help his career.
Matteo Darmain
The Italian full-back joined the Red Devils under former boss Louis Van Gaal but never really got his United career going, with both managers seeing him as more of a squad player than a first-team regular.
A switch back to his native Serie A may look like a good move as his time in England hasn’t worked out as he may have thought it would.
