Man Utd In Advanced Talks To Sign Chelsea & Liverpool Target, Deal Expected Soon

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, Man Utd are set to sign Pedro….

Manchester United are expected to fend off interest from Chelsea and Liverpool to wrap-up a £22m deal for Barcelona attacker Pedro Rodriguez over the coming days, according to El Confidential.

Pedro has been with Barca his entire professional career after joining the youth academy as a teenager and he appeared to commit his future to the club after signing a new four-year contract extension last month.

But the Spanish international confirmed that the new deal saw his buy-out clause reduce from £106m to a far more affordable £22m [via the Express] and this has led to intense speculation that he could be set for a move this summer.

Chelsea emerged as the early front runners for the 27-year-old’s signature with the Express reporting last week that Jose Mourinho was confident of wrapping-up a deal before the Daily Mail claimed that Liverpool were also ready to mount a challenge for his signature.

However, it looks like Manchester United are now the firm favourites to secure Pedro’s services this summer as Spanish outlet El Confidential claim that the Red Devils are in pole position after opening talks over a potential deal.

The newspaper says that negotiations are well underway with Barcelona now just waiting for United to submit their official bid to push ahead with the transfer, and they suggest that Pedro’s ‘fate’ is to wear the red of Manchester next season.

This report comes after football expert Andy Brassell was quoted as telling talkSPORT that United are also favourites to sign Pedro in a £22m deal.

“Manchester United are the front runners to sign Pedro, Chelsea are not going to follow through on their interest.

“He would move for around £22m. Pedro signed a new contract which substantially brought down his release clause. It was around €150m before.

“It makes a lot of sense for him to move to Manchester United with the sort of football Louis van Gaal wants to play.

“You could have Pedro on the right and Memphis Depay on the left.

“United have been linked with a lot of strikers but, given that Rooney is going to start and Hernandez is on the bench, there is not a lot of point buying another striker.

“They don’t need someone to play with Rooney because that’s not how Van Gaal plays. They need people to play in a 4-4-3 formation.”

So it looks like United are now closing in on yet another big-money signing and if Pedro completes his move to Old Trafford he’ll become Louis van Gaal’s fifth major new addition of the summer.

Brassell seems to think that Chelsea won’t follow-up on their initial interest but we’ll have to wait and see whether that turns out to be the case as there’s still plenty of time for the Blues, or indeed Liverpool, to hijack United’s move.

I think Pedro would be an excellent signing for any of United, Chelsea or Liverpool as despite not always being a regular at Barcelona, he’s still managed to score 98 goals in 318 games so he’d certainly bring an added threat in the final third.

READ MORE –> Chelsea transfer news | Liverpool transfer news | Man Utd transfer news

I’m not surprised the player is looking for a move this summer as he’s been restricted to cameo roles from the bench for much of the last 12 months as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez are all well ahead of him in the pecking order. With the Euro 2016 Championships coming up next summer, I’m sure Pedro wants regular game-time to ensure he’s in the Spain squad.

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming days but I believe £22m for a player of Pedro’s quality as an absolute bargain in today’s market. United appear to be favourites, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll get a deal over the line….