Man Utd In Talks With Agent Over Brazilian Centre-Back, Club Ready To Sell

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, Man Utd are linked with Atletico Madrid defender Miranda….

Manchester United remain in talks with the agent of Miranda as Atletico Madrid get ready to cash-in on the Brazilian centre-back at the end of the season, according to reports.

United were strongly linked with a move for Miranda last summer and there were even reports at one stage suggesting that the player had began house-hunting in Manchester ahead of a potential move.

A deal failed to materialise in the end as Atletico Madrid refused to do business for anything less than the defender’s €30m (£22m) release clause and with United unwilling to match that figure, Miranda stayed at the Vicente Calderon.

However, the 31-year-old’s contract is about to enter it’s final year and although the player has hinted he’s prepared to see-out the remaining 12 months before walking away on a free transfer in 2016, the Mirror claim that Atletico would prefer to cash-in this summer while they can still command a decent fee.

Diego Simeone has already started to blood Jose Maria Gimenez into the first team set-up this season and the youngster is now ready to step in to replace Miranda alongside Diego Godin at the heart of defence next campaign, so a move is likely.

It seems United could be set to renew their interest as the newspaper suggests that Miranda’s agent is still holding talks with United representatives about a possible move to Old Trafford and are hopeful of finally concluding a deal at the end of the season.

The Brazilian international would bring a huge amount of experience to the squad if he was to move to United this summer and he’s been an absolute rock at the back for Atletico since moving to the club from Sao Paulo in 2011.

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However, he’s the wrong side of 30 so I think United should be reluctant to pay over the odds for a player who may only have a couple of years left at the very top level and who’ll have very little sell-on value.

The likes of Mats Hummels would be a far better long-term option so if I were Louis van Gaal, I’d only opt for Miranda as a last resort if other younger targets aren’t available, but we’ll have to wait and see what the Dutchman decides to do.