By Guest Writer Paul McAllister.
Manchester United fans will be keeping a close eye on transfer developments at Old Trafford this summer. Despite manager Sir Alex Ferguson recently warning that the only player he would invest £60m in was Cristiano Ronaldo and that the transfer market was vastly inflated, it still looks like being a bumper summer at Old Trafford as Manchester United attempt to rebuild in order to make a fresh attempt on the league title and Champions League in season 2010-2011.
Certainly there have been plenty of rumours in recent days to whet the appetite for United fans. The first coming on Caughtoffside.com who suggested that Ferguson could be interested in Real Madrid’s freescoring Argentinean international striker Gonzalo Higuain as the perfect partner for Wayne Rooney. The suggested fee of £25m seems a little cheap, especially considering the fine form Higuain has been in.
However another source has Manchester United targeting another Real Madrid striker for a similar price. The News of the World reported this weekend that Sir Alex Ferguson could try to tempt out of favour French striker Karim Benzema to Old Trafford from the Bernebeu for £20m+. This does have a degree of authenticity to the story as Benzema is a player whom Ferguson tried to sign last season before he was snapped up by Florentino Perez as part of his new Galactico era at Madrid. Despite the big money move, it hasn’t worked out for Benzema at Real this season and the club may well be tempted to cut their losses and ship him to United during the summer.
The Guardian’s excellent Rumour Mill has United linked with four names in recent articles. Today we can add the name of Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo to the ever growing list of players that United have been linked with in articles in recent weeks. Also on the list are names such as Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra, Tottenham duo Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, not to mention Everton’s Spanish star Mikel Arteta and the newly crowned PFA Young player of the Year, James Milner of Aston Villa.
So it looks like Sir Alex Ferguson is going to be very busy! Finally, the last name Man Utd have been linked with, for some time now, is arguably the most exciting. Soccernet are reporting that Benfica starlet Angel Di Maria is reportedly drawing close attention from United as well as rivals Chelsea and Manchester City. The talented left winger is sure to make the Argentinean squad for this summer’s World Cup finals and despite a £40m price tag, it seems likely that cash strapped Benfica may try to cash in on the winger this summer.
Whatever the truth, it looks like being a busy period over the summer for Manchester United. Who do you think Sir Alex will target for next season?
Paul McAllister
