Manchester United have reportedly enquired about Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior as the club look for other options with interest in Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho seemingly resigned after the club have planned to keep the player for the 2020/21 season after the players travelled to Switzerland with his teammates on Monday after the clubs deadline to sell the player expired. However, United are not giving up on signing the 20-year-old.
The Bundesliga club continue to play hardball as they demand €120 million for the English winger this summer. Now Defensa Central report that United have turned to Real Madrid to see if they would sell 20-year-old Vinicius Junior this summer. This has been strengthened with rumours suggesting that the player is unhappy having been left on the bench for the UEFA Champions League defeat to Manchester City last Friday, which may or may not be true – the unhappiness as he was left on the bench in the defeat.
Arsenal, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain have all shown interested in the young Brazilian, who is more of a left-winger than a player that would occupy the right-wing position. The player signed for the Madrid club in the summer of 2018 for £38.7 million and is contracted to the club until the summer of 2025. The player can play on the right-wing but seems more effective on the left, playing 36 of his 38 appearances this season in that position, twice on the right. He has scored five goals and four assists, which is not really a great achievement.
The main problem in luring the player away from Madrid is the fact the club would rather keep him and get rid of the older players that are taking up most of the wage structure. United could discuss signing Vinicius Junior and walk away with James Rodriguez with Ed Woodward told that the player will be the best player he will ever sign with the United executive vice-chairman probably believing that and thinking that he had done some great transfer business.
The 20-year-old has an €700 million (£630 million) release clause written into his contract, so if United are trying to pay less for Sancho, it is not the best deal to pursue, therefore seems to be more of a rumour rather than something solid. However, nothing will ever surprise anyone when it comes to Woodward. He is the man who spent an entire summer chasing players that had no intention of signing for United, then on deadline day, paying £4 million more to sign Marouane Fellaini. It would seem that this guy never seems to learn when it comes to transfers.
United will probably end up leaving transfers for a few more weeks yet then if the club lifts the UEFA Europa League, providing they beat Sevilla on Sunday in the semi-final then go on to win the final, obviously, it will be marketed as some great achievement which could then turn into suggestions that the squad is not as bad as many supporters can see it is, having 11 quality first team players but the depth of the squad is where the problems lie with many of the players not good enough to carry the club when rotations are needed to keep players fresh. United should be a lot more professional when it comes to signing players, having all the legwork done months ahead of time, getting deals done quickly. I guess that will never happen though?
Written by John Walker
