Manchester United have now entered the proper transfer window frenzy. The new week has started and the window closes on Thursday at 5pm BST. That means the club is left with less than 72 hours to finish up all of their deals. In such a rush, mistakes could be made, but Ed Woodward will now need to show what he can do.
The club is in this situation of needing a centre-back just four days before their first match of the season because of Woodward’s slow movement in the market. No one is saying that Woodward has not backed up Jose Mourinho in previous windows – on the contrary – but the club has not been planning for this summer properly. However, it was other news that broke out on Monday which made interesting reading.
Barcelona’s Offer Is Hilarious
According to Italian media outlet Di Marzio, specialized in transfer deals and everything in regard to them, Barcelona have made an offer for Paul Pogba. Just how ridiculous the proposition was says that they were ready to offer Manchester United two players – Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes – plus 50 million euros. If that is not funny enough, they made such offer just days before the end of the window for English clubs.
If this offer truly was made, than it is mind-boggling for several reasons. First, they thought Manchester United could just transfer out Paul Pogba with the transfer window almost shutting. Then, they thought that two unneeded players at Barcelona would be good enough for Manchester United. Sure, Yerry Mina could help, but definitely not as much as many people believe after his good World Cup performances. However, Andre Gomes would struggle at a far smaller Premier League side than United are.
There are so many aspects of this offer that scream ‘unthinkable to happen’ that it is really weird pointing that out. United cannot and will not sell Paul Pogba. The end.
Alderweireld Deal Depends On Tottenham
What we also found out on Monday – if media outlet Goal is to be believed – is that Manchester United are very close to signing Toby Alderweireld from Tottenham Hotspur. In fact, Goal claim that the deal between the two clubs was found on Monday, but that the transfer will not go through until Spurs find a replacement for the Belgian centre-back.
This makes sense, but only to one point. Tottenham pretty much knew they will be selling Alderweireld this summer, as he did not want to sign a new deal and next summer he would be out of contract. It sounds naive that Spurs did not have a backup solution for the case when he leaves the club. If this is actually true, then we might be waiting for this deal to go through all the way until Thursday.
Spurs are known for doing plenty of their business in the last days of the summer transfer window and that might happen again this year. Whatever the truth here is, Man United’s clock is ticking and rushed decisions are more likely to happen.
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