Manchester United are reportedly prepared to offer Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez £150,000 per week to sign for the Old Trafford club. It is suggested that the player is worth £71 million this summer. The reports from the Daily Star with the newspaper suggesting that United will revive their interest in the player. It is hardly reliable information from the newspaper, what seems to put together so much clickbait, especially when transfer windows are open.
The 25-year-old is considered as one of the brightest rising stars in the game and for that reason, it would not be just one club that was interested in the player, which would end up rising the transfer fee of the player. If United made a move, other big clubs would follow and there would be a transfer saga which is not something that United need as they turn everything into a saga right now. If United are not willing to spend a lot or money up front this summer, as seems to be the case with Jadon Sancho, it makes this speculation harder to believe.
There are so many players that United are apparently trying to sign this summer and it would amount into a massive spend this summer, and if United wanted that, they would have shown signs of doing that by now. Granted, Niguez’s season has just ended with Atletico Madrid being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League after being beaten by RB Leipzig earlier this week. The clubs failure in Europe could see the Spanish midfielder seek a new challenge but that is speculation rather than fact.
It is stated in the report that United feel that Atletico’s exit from the Champions League would strengthen the fact that Niguez could opt to leave the club this summer. It was reported back in April that the player’s €150 million release clause would likely be cut in half this summer, hence the £71 million fee stated in the report. If that is true, it would be a great deal for a club with money to make a move for the player. Niguez is a top talent and could form a great midfield trio with Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes.
The 25-year-old has made a total of 47 appearances for Atletico this season, scoring seven goals and no assists in 4,246 minutes of football. After seeing his club beaten by German club RB Leipzig in the Champions League this week, Niguez spoke to the media about the hurt of losing in the completion, which seems to show the player’s annoyance because of what happened. Atletico will need to strong think about their plans for the future and the 25-year-old does not seek happy – he said:
“It hurts to lose, but our rivals were better in the game. They raised the tempo and we did not know how to react. They were superior to us, and at times we were not even close to stopping them.”
United need some rebuilding at the club this summer as there is a problem with the depth of the squad. Whilst there is depth, the quality of that depth is not the greatest. It is stated that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could be willing to sell Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo, Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira this summer with none of the players achieving anything at the club this season although Smalling was on loan for the whole season and Rojo was loaned out in January. There is a lot to think about at United if this report has any factual content, which I doubt.
Written by John Walker
