Just nine shopping days left until the summer transfer window deadline passes, with Old Trafford still having a lot of business to get done. Here is the latest news and transfer gossip items in regards to the club.
The pursuit of Bruno Fernandes remains stuck in neutral, but we do have an update on the Harry Maguire transfer saga. We also have an update on another player who might be on the move, striker Romelu Lukaku, so let’s dive right in to another edition of Man United transfer talk.
We start with Maguire, who supposedly wants his dream move to Old Trafford, but manager Brendan Rodgers and the rest of the Leicester City leadership want him to stay.
So much so that the nearly record breaking £70 million that United bid wasn’t enough, and now the astronomical figure of £90m might not be enough either! Hard to imagine any defender being worth that! Yes, even in spite of United’s longstanding issues in the centre of their back line.
It’s an already long exceedingly tedious tale, but it could still come down to the wire. We may not have a resolution on this transfer narrative until the 11th hour on deadline day. According to ESPN, Maguire has some genuine fears that this move isn’t going to happen.
On to Lukaku, another narrative that has been extremely protracted, and it isn’t likely to resolve itself soon.
During an interview with Sky Sports Italia, at the Serie A schedule release event, Inter Milan CEO Giuseppe “Beppe” Marotta said that he believes the offer his club made to Old Trafford for Big Rom was very fair.
“The club is strong but there are some obstacles to investments,” Marotta said. “For Lukaku we have made a fair offer to the player’s value, but we continue to monitor the situation.”
So this one could go down to the wire too, and by that we mean until the Serie A deadline day. Lukaku has seen his value decrease considerably since United paid £75 million, plus add-ons, for him two summers ago. Old Trafford would like to diminish the financial loss they could conceivably take on this investment, and they have a strong position to bargain from in order to realize that.
They know new manager Antonio Conte is very strongly interested in the player, and already under major pressure to make a splash signing.
Additionally, Inter are in dire need of a new striker with Mauro Icardi’s off the pitch nonsense having led to a long worn out welcome. Also, United might have a swap deal offer from Juventus, for forward Paulo Dybala, to consider.
Thus, it’s easy to understand why Ed Woodward and company are holding out for more.
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.
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