Rumor: It just does not stop... - The Summer transfer thread

Willian would be my 3rd-4th choice target as things stand. My choice for a RW for this summer are in order: Guedes, Bailey, Bale (if available) and then Willian.
William is not my preferred choice but again, I'd rather go with him than with what we've gone this past season. I like both Mata and especially Lingard but neither are suited to the wide right role. They are much more effective centrally and that is where they should play.
As far as Chong is concerned, he does look like the real deal and that's why I hope Mourinho will take him on our preseason tour to see how he does in the senior team. But he's got time on his side and I'd rather he play week in, week out with the U23 team, than just sit on the bench all year in the first team. He can be called from time to time for Cup games but like any young player, he needs to play so he can develop.

 

I imagine that the priority for this coming season as far as the U23 side is concerned is to regain their place in Premier League 1 after being relegated. I think the club will be looking to field the best team possible to make that happen and Chong, along with other U18 graduates will be a big part of that.

 

Inter have rejected a £57mil bid from United for Milan Skriniar.

www.football365.com/news/man-united-have-e65m-centre-back-bid-rejected-by-inter

As expected, the bar for CB valuation has been completely shifted after Pool's record outlay for van Dijk. Napoli for instance are reported to have placed a €120mil price tag on Koulibaly.
At 35mil or so, Lenglet really appears to be more and more appealing...

 

Definitely too late now for Bonucci, especially considering how much he'd cost. But Koulibaly IMO is the top CB we should be looking at now, with Alderweireld seemingly out of the picture. His valuation currently seems all over the shop (goes anywhere from £70 to 100mil) which seems to confirm the fact that Napoli are not eager to sell and will make it pretty hard to negotiate for him.
I agree that we shouldn't be looking at value just for the sake of it, but in my estimation Lenglet is different in this case because to me he's actually a (mega) steal at just £35mil (the amount of his release clause from Sevilla). He's not well known but we've seen his quality in the CL tie against us, where he went toe to toe with Lukaku and kept the lid on him (especially in the return game at OT). And having watched him whenever possible in La Liga, he's for real. From that standpoint: quality/price, he'd be an extremely good for us.

 

We are both in agreement that we should never spend anywhere near 100mil on a CB. Koulibaly has been a favorite of mine for some time, but I've never consistently mentioned him since Napoli made it clear last summer that one, they are desperate to hang on to him and two, they are willing to do just about anything to do so, even if it means inflating his value to the max.
Would push just a little further for Skriniar as well, who I believe is a Vidic level talent. Having offered 57 already, I'd go as high as £65, 70 tops for him. Lot of money but he's still so young, it would be easier to stomach. Lenglet, on the other hand, is much easier and straightforward: as long as we can convince him, the price of £35mil is set as it's the amount of his release clause.

 

Rio was a generational talent who was also very young (hence why I mentioned Skriniar as a player we should try hard for). The point I was making re Koulibaly in particular is that it's really not necessary to go for him, when Napoli clearly will not make it easy for anyone to get him. And it goes double considering the fact there are quality options available.
Of course the goal in the end is to get quality: certainly not looking at players just for the sake of getting shiny new toys...

 

United and Juventus look set to resume talks for Darmian this week.

www.sportwitness.co.uk/man-united-hold-transfer-meeting-wednesday-try-close-deal/

 

Sportwitness is breaking it down and it appears indeed to be originating from Bayern, following his comments about looking for a new challenge. Love Boateng but as I've said previously, he'd be the wrong signing for us simply because he's an enormous risk, fitness wise.
Looked at his injury record for the past few seasons and it's not as bad as I thought it would be, but he's still missed a lot of games (and more in the past 2-3yrs). And being close to 30, plus playing in England, it would likely get worse.
If it was only based on his ability, I'd have him in a second though...
And a 50-60mil price tag is just nuts also.

www.sportwitness.co.uk/e50-60m-hes-man-united-attempts-sign-player-mourinho-given-open-goal/

 

Bale is yet to meet with Real to sort out his future - Jonathan Barnett

www.skysports.com/football/news/11835/11411196/gareth-bales-agent-says-he-is-yet-to-meet-real-madrid-to-discuss-future

 

Koulibaly was always at the very top of potential CB options. Paying upwards of 70-80mil would have been acceptable. We already had to worry about Napoli not making any sale easy as De Laurentiis is on record recently as saying they do not want to sell, meaning they can hold out for some ridiculous sum.
But on top of that now with Sarri about to be named Chelsea's new manager, there could be a situation where there is competition for Koulibaly, which Napoli will surely take full advantage of.
How much we pay for a player is not the main concern here, but with other needs still on the table, the concern is how much into our budget one player would eat into and the amount left for those other spots.

 

Skriniar is aware of United's approach, but has no plans on leaving Inter.

www.goal.com/en/news/skriniar-admits-to-man-utd-approach-but-intends-to-stay-put/pn84qtxnt6ea1bc1gav6w2jra