Gossip: Man City’s £350m plans trump £155m Man United raid
PORTUGAL. THE MEN
With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer winning his 13th of an opening 16 games as Manchester United manager, the Norwegian might feel a little more comfortable making plans for the summer. The permanent job is surely his, partly thanks to that lovely Romelu Lukaku fella.
According to Portuguese newspaper Record, United are plotting a rather ambitious move for two Benfica players. They are willing to spend £155m to match the release clauses of both Joao Felix and Ruben Dias.
Without a prime subscription to Record (budgets are tight, guys), there is only so much we can say here really. The first paragraph says Juventus are also interested in the pair, and Felix has previously been reported as having a release clause of around £105m. He is certainly the most highly rated of the two.
That means Dias is rated at £50m. It would be quite the investment in the 21-year-old centre-half and his 19-year-old attacking midfielder teammate.
CHILWELL AND RELAX SLOWLY
Anything United can do, Manchester City can do to a more emphatic degree by potentially circumnavigating FFP rulings. And we said potentially, so that means we have covered all legal bases. Right?
Moving on very quickly, the Daily Star say the reigning Premier League champions want a left-back, a holding midfielder and two more players in the summer.
That is nothing particularly groundbreaking, considering Pep Guardiola himself said “You know we are going to try for a holding midfielder and other positions we are thinking about”, including someone to supply back up to Benjamin Mendy, earlier this week.
But while the Daily Telegraph reported a £200m spending spree, the Star go much bigger. They say City will spend £350m as they target ‘FOUR mega summer deals’.
The only player they actually mention is Ben Chilwell, and considering £350m would be over £100m more than any club has ever spent in a single transfer window, that seems a bit much.
AND THE REST
Manchester United face tough opposition from Paris St-Germain to sign Borussia Dortmund and England winger Jadon Sancho, 18… Real Madrid are willing to use Wales forward Gareth Bale, 29, as bait to sign Tottenham and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen, 27… West Ham are set to sign England midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, 27, from Newcastle in the summer… Fifa could prevent Chelsea’s plans to launch a £200m summer spending spree before their transfer ban kicks in, which could also stop the Blues chances of bringing in Zinedine Zidane as manager.
