In the words of C&C Music Factory: “here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go.” It’s 2020 summer transfer window deadline day, and once again Manchester United have left a bulk of their homework to the 11th hour on the due date.
Amad Traore is set to join Edinson Cavani and Alex Telles as deadline day deals, but there is a plot twist. The 18-year-old Atalanta winger will join the club not immediately, but in January.
Amad Traoré will join Manchester United on next January, here we go! Deal agreed right not with Atalanta but the young talent [born in 2002] will arrive on 2021 because of work permit and passport timing.
? #MUFC will pay €30m + add ons for him! More: https://t.co/oBjUmrDMtV
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 5, 2020
As you can see from the tweet above, Sky Sports Italy reporter, and transfer guru Fabrizio Romano says it is “here we go” time for United, their 30 million Euros and the rising prospect.
ESPN picked up on the story too, reporting that Traore “was close to signing for Parma earlier in the summer, but the deal broke down. United have been locked in talks with Atalanta for a while but sources said there has been a breakthrough in negotiations and they are optimistic he will arrive at Old Trafford in the January transfer window.”
No doubt United are probably overpaying for a kid that has only seen 25 minutes of action in Serie A, but this is exactly what happens when you go all in on Jadon Sancho, but aren’t prepared to pay the kind of money that “all in” requires.
Moving on from the fiasco that was the Sancho pursuit, Old Trafford moved on to their fallback options, and those didn’t come through either. So now they’re shelling out a lot of money for an unproven kid, but in the end it could all be worth it. You’re paying for potential, and someday down the line, it could prove to be a really smart investment.
Look at Anthony Martial for example.
United paid in the mid 30 millions of pounds for him, on deadline day 2015, when he was then unknown. While he’s off to a rough start this season, the deal still looks like a big time bargain today.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, 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,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.