Manchester United are thundering towards their first two signing of the transfer window with new sporting director Dan Ashworth already working on a second signing to follow up on Matthijs De Ligt and amid claims the Bayern Munich defender has agreed a significant salary cut to move to Old Trafford.
A new era is underway at Manchester United with Sir Jim Ratcliffe getting his feet firmly under the table following his £1.3bn investment into the club and having made the appointment of a number of key new arrivals his first responsibility. While deals were quickly agreed for Omar Berrada (CEO), Jean-Claude Blanc (director) and Jason Wilcox (technical director), it has taken a great deal of patience and negotiating to get Ashworth in situ.
However, this week came the news that Ratcliffe had been waiting for after finally striking an agreement to bring the 53-year-old to the club from Newcastle United.
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And Ashworth is wasting little time in not just identifying, but working at signing the top targets for United this summer. As a result, TEAMtalk can confirm the club hopes to ideally make four new signings with the spine of their team very much the focus and a new centre-half, a midfielder and a striker top of their wishlist. A right-sided attacker is also seen as desireable too and reports on Wednesday evening revealed Bologna’s Dan Ndoye has moved firmly on to United’s radar.
However, the first signing for United is likely to come in central defence. The decision by Ratcliffe to not take up the one-year option to extend Raphael Varane’s £340,000 a week contract has opened the doors for the club to bring in a top-class replacement.
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Their quest to land a new centre-half, though, has not been an easy one. A cheeky opening offer for Jarrad Branthwaite totalling £43m with add-ons was dismissed out of hand by Everton. And while another offer could yet be forthcoming, the Toffees no longer need to sell and value the 21-year-old north of £70m anyway.
With Ratcliffe unwilling to go that high – and TEAMtalk understands a budget of £50m has been allocated to sign a centre-half – focus has been turned in recent days to De Ligt.
And United’s chances of striking a deal have accelerated after the defender gave the green light to the move – and a reunion with his former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag – while Bayern themselves have made it clear they are willing to negotiate his sale and for a fee that will seemingly be deemed a fair price by United.
However, not everyone is happy with the prospective €60m (£50.8m) deal and an online petition, garnering thousands of signatures, has been set up to try and block De Ligt’s transfer to United.
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That deal, though, appears to be thundering towards completition and now a significant double update suggests it a case of when not if the move goes through.
To help grease the wheels, De Ligt has made it clear in preliminary talks over the move that he willing to accept a sizeable pay-cut to make the move go through.
The 24-year-old currently earns a hefty €15m a year with Bayern Munich – which equates to £242,000 a week.
However, German journalist Christopher Michel has revealed De Ligt is willing to accept a more modest fee of less than €1m a month – around £195,000 a week.
Man Utd transfers: PSG deal for Manuel Ugarte edging closer
With a deal for De Ligt looking good, United have been able to turn their focus towards other arrivals, with their central midfield also seen as an area in need of an ugrade.
And with Bayern Munich needing to sell De Ligt to fund a midfield signing of their own, it emerged on Wednesday that they had already agreed to spend the funds received from the Dutchman’s sale on long-term midfield target Joao Palhinha.
Per reports, Bayern will pay Fulham a fee of €56m (£47.4m) for the Portugal midfielder with the move expected to go through once his nation’s Euro 2024 campaign is over.
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The news of a Bayern move for Palhinha, though, is also great news for United. Not only does it hasten their need to offload De Ligt, but it also clears the path for United to sign another major target, with the swoop for the Fulham man effectively ending their interest in signing Manuel Ugarte.
The tough-tackling midfielder has been unofficially put up for sale by PSG after just a season in the French capital. And while he has seemingly given the green light over a move, he was known to be waiting to see if another of his suitors in Bayern would be forthcoming with making a counter-offer for his services.
However, Bayern’s move for Palhinha will end their chances of signing Ugarte, leaving the path clear for Ashworth to make his move.
Currently away on Copa America duty for his country, with a quarter-final against Brazil next on the horizon, Ashworth is ready to step up his hunt for his signing in the coming weeks, with a deal worth in the region of €60m (£50.8m) also on the agenda.