Right now, the Manchester United squad has four players that could fetch a decent price.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is taking a few weeks off after his first five months in the Manchester United job. The club were floundering when he took over from Jose Mourinho before they went on an impressive winning run.
The season ended, however, with just two wins in the final 10 games and United finished six in the league. Whatever balm the Norwegian’s arrival provided soon evaporated and the club look to be in a considerable hole.
Solskjaer is planning an overhaul of his squad, over the summer, and the likes of Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia are the first two big departures confirmed. More will surely follow, and the club are keen to get in some fresh faces to drive them on, through next season and beyond.
There will be money given to Solskjaer to spend but the club would understandably be keen to free up more cash by moving on high earners – such as Alexis Sanchez – that are underperforming. Juan Mata may well be retained, so the entire midfield is not gutted, but the likes of Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba could follow Herrera out the door.
It has been reported, by The Star, that United are willing to sell Pogba but would hold out for a huge fee of £138m (160m euro). Realistically, only Real Madrid or PSG would have the financial reserves to plough ahead with a bid for the World Cup winner.
There are only three other United players on their books that could earn the club a decent transfer fee, should they wish to move them on:
- David De Gea
- Marcus Rashford
- Anthony Martial
Should Pogba move on, however, that £138m would cover a huge chunk of two transfer targets the club are said to be chasing.
Portuguese outlet Record claim United are willing to meet Benfica’s £105m release clause to bring in 19-year-old attacker Joao Felix, who recently netted a Europa League hat-trick and is highly rated across the continent. United’s last purchase from Benfica was Vitor Lindelof while they had a successful shopping spree in Portugal, back in 2003, when they bought Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon.
The club are said to have had a bid of £95m for Kalidou Koulibaly rejected but appear dead set on getting the Napoli defender in before the new season starts.
