Jose Mourinho keen to bolster his midfield
According to the Italian newspaper, Il Tempo, Manchester United have offered €7.5 million-per-week in wages to AS Roma’s midfield ace Radja Nainggolan. Reports claim that Jose Mourinho wants to bolster his midfield ahead of the 2017/18 season with the Champions League being his main focus.
Man United have also been linked with the signings of Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic and AS Monaco’s Fabinho, however, Mourinho has made Nainggolan his priority this summer along with Real Madrid’s striker Alvaro Morata.
Nainggolan came very close to a Premier League move last summer with Chelsea interested in him, however, Roma’s €40m valuation saw the Blues cool their interest.
Morata wants Man United move by end of the week
Alvaro Morata has left his honeymoon midway to speed up negotiations with Real Madrid’s chiefs to force a move to Manchester United this summer, reports AS. It is believed that the two clubs have been stuck in negotiations for weeks now with Real Madrid not willing to lower their asking price of €80m and Man United keen to sign him for €65-70m.
According to AS, Morata is not happy with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez who gave a statement last night claiming that there are no offers on the table from Manchester United despite Jose Mourinho personally attempting to sign the Spanish striker.
Morata wants the transfer to be wrapped up by the end of this week and hopes to join his wife on their honeymoon. The Spaniard’s wife further fuelled the speculation by following Manchester United’s official Instagram account earlier in the week.
Martial keen to sort out his future
According to reports from Independent, Anthony Martial’s entourage is expected to meet with Manchester United’s representatives this week to sort out the player’s future. The French winger was left out by Jose Mourinho in all the big matches last season and according to reports, the United manager is not pleased with the player’s attitude both on and off the pitch.
In recent weeks, Arsenal registered an interest in the Frenchman and are prepared to pay as much as £40 million for him. Arsene Wenger thinks he can give Martial the freedom to play in an attacking system, which is currently not an option for him under Mourinho.
Despite starting the 2016/17 season on a good note, Martial could only manage four goals in the entire campaign and is eager to secure his future before the start of the 2017/18 season. Martial, meanwhile, took to Twitter to clear all the rumours and claimed that all the recent reports of his Old Trafford exit are false.
Manchester Evening News understands it was a direct hint from Martial’s camp to Mourinho and the club to sort out his future before the squad fly out for their pre-season tour of the United States.
De Gea asks Mendes to contact Real Madrid
United goalkeeper David de Gea has asked his agent Jorge Mendes to push through a transfer to Real Madrid this summer, according to Metro. De Gea has been heavily linked with a move back to Spain after Florentino Perez decided to bring in a new keeper before the start of next season.
De Gea has asked Mendes to convince the Manchester outfit to accept a bid from Real Madrid as he does not want to hand in a transfer request following his fruitful stay at Old Trafford. Real Madrid, however, are keeping a close eye on Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois as well if their move for de Gea hits a stumbling block.
