Manchester United transfer news LIVE: Jadon Sancho and Alex Telles latest, Jesse Lingard to Tottenham plus Premier League updates
Manchester United are hoping to step up their summer transfer business with the deadline just two weeks away
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Manchester United are chasing reinforcements with the summer transfer deadline just two weeks away.
The 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace has hastened the urgency for new recruits with Jadon Sancho remaining the No 1 target. Borussia Dortmund have been holding out for £108m all summer but Ed Woodward is said to be confident they will drop the asking price before the deadline with personal terms already agreed with the England international.
Left-back is another priority position to upgrade with Porto’s Alex Telles another to be linked. A five-year deal has been agreed with a fee with the Portuguese club now being haggled over. There could yet be a number of exits too with Chris Smalling still set for Roma and Jesse Lingard a surprise target for Tottenham Hotspur and former boss Jose Mourinho.
MENGI ADDED TO FIRST TEAM
Manchester United have officially added Teden Mengi to their first-team squad.
The 18-year-old, has been promoted to the senior squad and the United website has uploaded his profile to the first-team section.
Centre-back Mengi was an unused substitute in Tuesday night's Carabao Cup win at Luton Town but could make his first appearance of the season in next week's fourth-round tie away at Preston North End or Brighton.
With Mengi now in the first team have United signalled that they won’t be bringing in another centre-back this summer?
LIVERPOOL JOIN RACE FOR DEMBELE
Liverpool have joined Manchester United in holding talks with Barcelona over a potential deal to sign £92m-rated attacker Ousmane Dembele this summer, according to reports
According to the Daily Record Manchester United are in talks with Barca over a potential deal having identified Dembele as an alternative target to Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho.
The newspaper says United would prefer a simple one-year loan deal but Barca are wanting at least an obligation to buy clause including in any loan deal or ideally a straight sale with the Catalans valuing Dembele at £92m.
France Football now claims the Premier League champions are also in negotiations with Barcelona over a possible deal to sign Dembele this summer.
The French outlet says Liverpool, like United, are looking to sign the 23-year-old on a season long loan with Jurgen Klopp keen to lure Dembele to Anfield despite signing attacker Diogo Joto from Wolves this month.
They also claim that Ronald Koeman wants to keep Dembele at the Nou Camp but the Daily Record suggests that Barcelona chiefs are willing to offload the attacker to help ease financial issues at the club as they look to cut 30% of their wage bill.
ALL OR NOTHING IF UNITED WANT SANCHO
Fabrizio Romano says Borussia Dortmund are happy to keep Jadon Sancho if Manchester United do not meet the £108 million asking price for the winger.
Sancho’s representatives have met with United and have agreed personal terms should the Red Devils pull the trigger on the sale.
Given United’s recent record of making high-priced purchases in the closing stages of the transfer windows this one may happen yet but only on Dortmund’s terms.
Romano told talkSPORT:
“In this moment Dortmund are in the same position they’ve been in for many weeks,”
“They always say they want to keep the player if [United] don’t want to pay the €120m asking price.
“At the moment it’s very complicated because Manchester United haven’t made any moves in the last hours.
“They either have to pay the €120m or the player will stay this season.
“I am told that Manchester United are still in talks with his agents so the deal isn’t completely off but we will have to see the developments.”
SOLSKJAER REVEALS GREENWOOD FLAW
Man Utd boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has revealed the flaw that Mason Greenwood needs to improve in order to become a complete No.9 for the Red Devils:
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals Mason Greenwood’s fatal flaw as a striker
Coach offered to help the young England international practise
UNITED HIT STUMBLING BLOCK IN TELLES DEAL
Porto’s Alex Telles looks set to become Man Utd’s second signing of the summer but the clubs cannot agree on a price for the left-back.
The Brazilian has reportedly agreed to a five-year deal worth £3.6 million per year which works out at around £70,000 per week.
While United are happy with these terms they have a number of different clauses to wrap up before Telles can sign on the dotted line.
Telles’ former club Galatasaray included a 10% sell-on clause when they sold the left-back, and then there are the agent fees.
The 27-year-old is represented by Pini Zahavi while Jorge Mendes is also involved in the deal, with the pair set to split 15% of the final transfer fee.
That means Porto will miss out on 25% of the fee they receive from United.
Porto are demanding they receive £18m for Telles, which means the Red Devils will need to bid £24.7m to ensure Porto get their asking price once the other shares are deducted.
United believe that price tag is too high for a player with one year left on his current contract and hope to negoitate it down.
WOODWARD WARNING ABOUT ECONOMIC IMPACT
Man United's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward made an announcement on Saturday to talk about the economic impact of coronavirus on the club.
In his programme notes for the Crystal Palace game Woodward wrote: "Disruption from the pandemic is continuing to create huge economic pressure from the top to the bottom of the football pyramid and while we are fortunate to be in a more resilient position than most clubs, we are not immune from impact."
What does this mean for any possible Man Utd transfers?
"We're working with the ones we have [right now]," said United boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, after the win over Luton last night. "Let's see what happens. We'll give you updates if there is something."
The Red Devils have only brought in Donny van de Beek this summer despite calls from fans for them to sign more players.
United have been linked with a number of players including Jadon Sancho, Dayot Upamecano and Alex Telles but so far no deals have been completed.
DEMBELE UNITED’S PLAN D
Barcelona wide man Ousmane Dembele is reportedly Manchester United’s ‘Plan D’ amid struggles to sign Jadon Sancho amongst other.
Spanish media outlet AS have claimed Barca are not considering the player to head out on loan this summer, though it’s been reported they may consider a sale for a €100m fee.
Sancho, Gareth Bale and Ansu Fati have been ahead of Dembele on United’s list, it’s claimed.
BERBATOV BLASTS ‘AWFUL’ UNITED
Former Man Utd striker, Dimitar Berbatov, has lambasted the Red Devils opening game performance against Crystal Palace as ‘awful’.
He says he had high hopes for the team this season but they’ve got off to the worse possible start.
Berbatov added that the lack of transfers for United mean they will be stuck behind their rivals in the league and it could become a long season for them:
"I said Manchester United need to hit the ground running, but they did the exact opposite at the weekend. It was only the first game, but they looked awful - slow and no transition between the lines,
"I don't remember many efforts on target, and all of that speaks volumes about the attacking prowess of the team. In the end, Palace won deservedly.
"There's no excuse for United, the performance just wasn't good enough and hopefully it will just be a first-game blip,
"If we just based it on the first game then United are miles off the speed of the other top teams in the league, so I hope it is just down to it being game one,
"If it becomes a trend, it could be a very long season. I and others have big expectations for United this season. They need a centre-half, and probably further recruitment also to be competitive,
"At the end of the day, if Crystal Palace can score three past you, you are in trouble."
'LUTON WIN A BOOST’ - IGHALO
Odion Ighalo has back his Manchester United teammates to open their account in the Premier League this weekend against Brighton.
The Red Devils defeated Luton 3-0 in the EFL Cup last night and it gave the side a much needed boost after they were humbled by Crystal Palace last Saturday.
Ighalo said:
“It was a very tough game. We knew, from the start, that we were coming to play a tough side. We are happy we are going through to the next round - that is the most important thing.
“We’ve not started the league very well, but we’ve won today and I think it’s a boost for this weekend’s game against Brighton. We’ll go there and try to win and start the Premier League [again].
“We were disappointed at the weekend because we didn’t win the game against Crystal Palace.
"We only had one week to prepare for that game; I think they had been preparing for four weeks. So it can tell a bit. But, now we’ve won this game, I think it’s a boost for us. Hopefully we’ll win this weekend and start on a good note in the Premier League.”
DIAWARA DEAL COULD HELP UNITED
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, is looking to bring in players to bolster his midfield with Thomas Partey and Houssem Aouar his top two targets.
But now, according to reports, Arsenal have their sights set on Roma’s Amadou Diawara.
The Guinean is an important player in Paulo Fonseca’s side but Roma could look to cash in for a fee of around €30m.
At €20m less than Partey, Arteta believes he would be a solid capture that would strengthen his midfield.
If Roma do sell Diawara to the Gunners it could have a knock on effect for Manchester United as it would give Roma the finances they need to bring Chris Smalling back to the club at the £18 million asking price the Red Devils are demanding.
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