The rebuild of Manchester United could definitely take some time, so get ready and dig your heels in for that. The upshot is that we’ll have a summer transfer window filled with many comings and goings.
And with Manchester United linked to approximately 97,324 players already, the time is right for some Red Devils transfer talk. In today’s edition, we update you on the latest surrounding three long time targets and very familiar transfer narratives. We start by first circling back to Welshman winger Gareth Bale, who was heavily pursued by United during the Jose Mourinho regime.
United also missed out on Bale when he went to Tottenham in 2007 and then later when he left for Real Madrid in 2013. He’s available again now as he just didn’t fit in to the Zinedine Zidane regime at the Bernabeu.
Or as former Real Madrid and Wales boss John Toshack said, something has “gone terribly wrong” for him in Madrid. According to ESPN today, United have rejected the opportunity to enter talks with Real Madrid about the possibility of acquiring Bale.
ESPN FC claims that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is just not interested in the former Tottenham Hotspur man, but he is open to the idea of adding another forward this summer. The Bristol based operation claims that “Lille’s Nicolas Pepe, Lyon’s Moussa Dembele and Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser have all been discussed” as potential options.
If United are serious about a shift in transfer strategy, about going for young up-and-comers instead of more established and expensive types, then they need to Bale on the idea of pursuing Gareth. Also, striving to acquire rising young prospects instead of the big names is indeed the way to go.
Elsewhere, United have received a boost in their pursuit of Ajax star Matthijs de Ligt, a young man who is in very high demand this summer. Noted journalist Fabrizio Romano recently reported that his agent Mino Raiola was in Paris working on finishing a deal that would send him to Paris Saint-Germain.
However, Raiola has disputed this report, telling ANSA (h/t Goal’s Dejan Kalinic): “This is a classic example of fake news.”
Sure, this could be just agent posturing, in order to get even more money, but at the same time the De Ligt to PSG deal isn’t as close to being done as many had thought.
And that’s good news for all the other teams that want the 19-year-old, including United, Liverpool, Juventus, Barcelona and more. Bleacher Report has additional details.
Finally, we return to Leicester City central defender Harry Maguire, who is reportedly set to ignite a bidding war between the two Manchester clubs in the race to acquire his signature.
Leicester are just not interested in parting ways with the England star, but in the end money does talk.
If the transfer fee hits £80 million, which would shatter the transfer fee record for a defender, United would not be put off by that, according to ESPN.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.