Chelsea
Chelsea Trying To Hijack Man Utd Deal As Jose Holds Talks With Agent Of £36m Star
Chelsea are trying to hijack Manchester United’s move for Nicolas Otamendi after Jose Mourinho made contact with his agent about a move to Stamford Bridge
With the summer transfer window finally open for business, managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads ahead of next season so we’ll bring you all the news and gossip. Today, Chelsea are linked with Nicolas Otamendi….
Chelsea are trying to hijack Manchester United’s move for Nicolas Otamendi after Jose Mourinho made contact with the defender’s agent to discuss a move to Stamford Bridge, according to the Express.
Otamendi enjoyed another excellent campaign with Valencia last season where his superb form at the back helped the club to a fourth placed finish in the La Liga table to secure qualification to the Champions League.
The 26-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford with the Daily Star reporting last month that the Red Devils had agreed personal terms with the centre-back ahead of a potential move.
The Metro have also claimed more recently that United have everything in place to secure a deal for the Argentinean international as Louis van Gaal looks to bring in a dominant defender this summer.
However, it looks like United will now face stiff competition for Otamendi’s signature as the Express are citing reports emerging from Spain which claim Chelsea have made a late move to hijack their rivals proposed transfer.
The newspaper suggests that Jose Mourinho has ear-marked Otamendi as a long-term replacement for John Terry and has personally called his agent, Jorge Mendes, to try and secure a deal.
The news will come as a major blow to United and they’ll be concerned by the fact that Mendes is also Mourinho’s agent and has helped broker deals for clients like Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao to join Chelsea in recent windows.
Otamendi could now be the next high profile player on the super-agents books to head to Stamford Bridge but I’m sure United won’t give up without a fight as the powerful centre-back is just the type of player van Gaal’s side is crying out for.
However, Chelsea and United will have to be prepared to dig deep if they want to do a deal with Valencia as the Express claim that the Spaniard’s will refuse to business for anything less than his £36m buy out clause this summer.
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That sort of money shouldn’t be a problem for either club so it might come down to who the player prefers and which club can offer him regular first team football. At Chelsea, he’d be up against Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma, as well as skipper Terry, so he might find it difficult to hold down a regular place in Mourinho’s side for at least a year.
Whereas at United, I’d expect him to be their first choice centre-back as Otamendi has to be considered an upgrade on the likes of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Jonny Evans which should put them at an advantage.
We’ll have to see how things develop over the coming weeks but if regular action is high on Otamendi’s priority list, then I’d still put United as favourites to secure a deal for the defender.
