Man Utd Eye Swoop For Brazilian Star But Will Need To Pay Over €55m To Land Him

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, Manchester United are linked with Marquinhos….

Manchester United are pressing ahead with their attempts to land Brazilian defender Marquinhos but will have to pay in excess of €55m to persuade Paris Saint Germain to cash-in, according to reports.

Marquinhos has been on the books as PSG since joining the club from Roma for €41m (£30m) in 2013 and he’s widely regarded as one of the most promising young defenders in world football.

When he’s played, he’s been hugely impressive but the 20-year-old has struggled to establish himself as a regular in Laurent Blanc’s starting eleven as the French coach prefers David Luiz and Thiago Silva as his main centre-back pairing.

It’s led to speculation linking Marquinhos with a move away from the Parc des Prince in recent transfer windows but PSG have always maintained that they have no interest in selling the Brazilian international.

Manchester United reportedly made a firm enquiry over his availability in January but were knocked back by the Ligue 1 champions, however, it seems the Red Devils aren’t about to give up just yet.

The Daily Mail claim that United will look to bring in two top class central defenders this summer and Louis van Gaal has supposedly made Marquinhos one of his prime transfer targets.

United are continuing to keep a close eye on the youngster during the second half of the season and PSG are understood to be aware of the 20-time Premier League champions growing interest.

However, it’s not going to be easy to bring Marquinhos to Old Trafford as the newspaper suggests that it would take an offer in excess of €55m (£40m) to make PSG even consider cashing-in. That kind of money would smash the £30m United paid for Rio Ferdinand in 2002 and break the British transfer record for a defender – which stands at the £40m Man City paid Porto for Eliaquim Mangala last summer.

Marquinhos fulled speculation he could be on his way to England after recently talking-up the Premier League and he admitted there has already been discussions with clubs here.

‘The Premier League is viewed all around the world,’

‘There is even some children in Brazil who grow up supporting English teams. There have been some discussions with English clubs, but right now I’m with PSG.’ Marquinhos is quoted as saying by the Metro

PSG don’t want to lose the defender but they are restricted on how much they can spend this summer due to Financial Fair Play restrictions so the money from the sale of Marquinhos would give Blanc the funds he needs to strengthen other areas of his squad.

READ MORE –> Man Utd transfer news

I think he’d be a sensational signing for United if they were able to pull it off and the South American would be the type of player van Gaal could build his defence around for the next decade.

However, there’s still a long way to go before Marquinhos is a United player and it looks like they will have to pull out all the stops in order to bring him to Old Trafford this summer.