Man Utd Official Flies To Spain To Thrash Out Deal For €50m Star

The January transfer window is now closed but that won’t stop the newspapers from speculating ahead of the summer so we’ll bring you all the news and gossip. Today, Manchester United are linked with Nicolas Otamendi….

Manchester United have sent a club official over to Spain to try and thrash out a deal for €50m-rated Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi, according to reports.

United boss Louis van Gaal is widely expected to bring in another central defender at the end of the season after failing to land any of his key targets during the past two transfer windows.

The 20-time Premier League champions have been strongly linked with a move for Otamendi in recent months and reports back in January claimed they had held initial talks with the players agent about a potential move to Old Trafford.

It seems United must have received encouragement as the Metro claim that a club representative was sent over to Spain to watch the 27-year-old during Valencia’s 4-0 win at Elche on Friday night and is now holding talks to try and thrash out a deal.

Otamendi has a buy-out clause worth €50m (£36m) written into his contract and the newspaper suggests that United are prepared to match that fee in order to land the Argentinean international this summer.

Valencia are desperate to keep hold of the powerful defender and are no longer under any pressure to sell their best players after being taken over by billionaire businessman Peter Lim.

READ MORE –> Man Utd transfer news

However, there would be very little they could do if United do match the €50m clause and it would then be down to the player to decide whether he wants to move to Old Trafford or remain at the Mestalla.

Otamendi only joined Valencia from Porto in January 2014 but he’s developed into one of the best centre-back’s in La Liga over the past 12 months and has been capped by his country 18 times, so he should have no problem getting a work permit if a deal can be agreed.

There no doubt that United could do with a dominant centre-back this summer and Otamendi would be an excellent addition, so we’ll have to see how this transfer story develops over the coming months.