Man Utd Join Arsenal In Hunt For €30m Spanish International

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 have joined Arsenal in the race for Pedro….

Manchester United have joined Arsenal in the race to sign Spanish international Pedro as Barcelona prepare to cash-in on the €30m-rated attacker this summer, according to reports.

Pedro has been at Barca since joining the club’s youth team as a 17-year-old in 2004 and he made his way through the youth ranks before breaking into the first team set-up in 2008.

The attacker’s breakthrough season came in 2009/10 when he scored 23 goals in 52 appearances to help lead Barca to the La Liga title and many expected him to push on and become a key player for the Catalans over the coming seasons.

However, Pedro’s career has stalled in recent years and he’s found regular first team football even harder to come by this season following the arrival of Luis Suarez, with the 27-year-old only starting five league games since the Uruguayan international returned from his suspension in late October.

Pedro’s situation has led to intense speculation linking him with a move away from the club this summer with reports suggesting that Arsenal are lining-up a bid for the Spaniard at the end of the season.

But it looks like the Gunners will now face stiff competition as the Metro are citing reports coming out of Spain that claim Manchester United have now joined the chase with Louis van Gaal supposedly identifying Pedro as a key target this summer.

Pedro himseld has recently fuelled the speculation by admitting he’ll assess his future at the end of the season. He recently told reporters:

“I don’t know [if I will stay]. For now, I’m happy at the club, but you never know what is going to happen tomorrow.

“I’m calm, with my mind set on the club until the end of the season and then we’ll see what happens after that.

“Not having continuity makes things complicated. It’s tough, but what I try to do is help out as much as possible.”

With the forward entering the final year of his contract in June, there has been no sign that an extension will be signed any time soon and reports last month suggested that Barcelaon are ready to cash-in for €30m (£22m) as they don’t want to lose him for nothing in 2016.

Arsenal have plenty of attacking talent available but with Lukas Podolski expected to leave on a permanent basis and the future’s of Joel Campbell and Yaya Snaogo also uncertain, perhaps Arsene Wenger is looking to bring in Pedro to further bolster his options up front.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Man Utd transfer news

But van Gaal is expected to splash the cash this summer if United qualify for the Champions League and I’m sure the Dutchman would jump at the chance of signing a player with the quality of Pedro.

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop but the longer he goes without signing a new contract the more likely it looks that he’ll find a new club this summer, and he’d be an excellent addition for either Arsenal or United if they were able to pull it off.