Manchester United pulled-off a last gasp move to sign highly-rated attacker Amad Diallo Traore in a £37m deal from Atalanta on deadline day.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spent much of the summer transfer window trying to sign a top class winger but he was frustrated in his attempts to land prime targets such as Jadon Sancho and Ousmane Dembele.
When deadline day arrived, Man Utd turned their attention to buying for the future and they entered advanced negotiations with Atalanta over a deal to sign exciting teenager Traore after registering their interest earlier in the summer.
It initially looked as though Manchester United had missed the boat as Traore was poised to join Parma on loan and the Serie A club even announced his arrival on their social media channels.
However, the proposed deal with Parma collapsed after United made their interest known and the Manchester giants moved quickly to get a deal agreed with Atalanta to sign the 18-year-old on Monday evening.
United announced late last night on ManUtd.com that an agreement is in place to sign Traore, subject to a medical, but the winger won’t link-up with his new team-mates until a later date – most likely in January.
Manchester United didn’t have time to finalise all aspects of the transfer on deadline day so Traore is expected to complete his switch to Old Trafford in the winter window.
The Evening Standard claims that United will pay £19m up front for Traore’s signature with a further £18.2m due in add-ons meaning the entire deal is worth £37.2m – which is a huge investment in a player who’s played very little first team football.
Traore came through the youth ranks at Atalanta before scoring on his debut during a win over Udinese last year, however, he’s made just three appearances for the first team so far and hasn’t got off the bench so far this season.
The Ivorian is considered to be one of the hottest prospects in Italian football and Man Utd have made their move to snap him up having monitored his progress for a number of years.
Traore was one of several players to be signed by United on deadline day after they completed deals for Edinson Cavani, Alex Telles and highly-rated youngster Facundo Pellistri.
