Portugold
UNITED CHASE £250M STARS FELIX, DIAS AND FERNANDES
MANCHESTER UNITED’S pursuit of three of Portugal’s rising young stars could cost them £250million.
Manager-in-waiting Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to sign the best young talent rather than older experienced players.
It’s why he has ordered regular updates on Benfica pair Joao Felix, 19, and Ruben Dias, 21, plus Sporting Lisbon’s 24-year-old Bruno Fernandes.
But the top clubs in Europe including Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid also covet the trio who are all regular Portugal internationals.
It’s why forward Felix has a £105m release clause in his Benfica contract, midfielder Fernandes’ buy-out cost is £95m while Dias has a value of £50m.
That adds up to a hefty £250m if a club wanted to secure all three.
That’s unlikely, but right now Solskjaer is keeping his options open as he prepares for his first foray into the transfer market.
Even though his appointment as permanent manager is yet to be confirmed by the Old Trafford hierarchy Solskjaer has delivered a wish-list of transfer targets to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward which includes the Portuguese trio.
One player who would come a lot cheaper – at least regarding a transfer fee – is Paris Saint-germain’s Adrien Rabiot. The France midfielder is in dispute with the club and will be available on a free in the summer.
Gordon Strachan is one Manchester United legend who would love Solskjaer to be making these sort of long-term calls from the Old Trafford hotseat.
Strachan is delighted Solskjaer is tapping into Sir Alex Ferguson’s knowledge – and isn’t worried by his lack of coaching ability.
The Scot spent three seasons at Old Trafford under Fergie and said: “I’ve heard Ole isn’t the world’s greatest coach, but Sir Alex wasn’t the world’s greatest coach. For 25 years, he didn’t do much coaching, he left that to others.
“He brought presence, discipline and footballing philosophy – things like passing the ball forward more – and that’s where modern football is at. It’s a lot simpler than people are making out. You’ll get caught up in it if you believe all these stats, but it’s ‘the Emperor’s new clothes’.
“We know Ole is talking to Sir Alex – and that’s good. He won’t be asking about tactics, he’ll be asking how he deals with being United manager on and off the park.
“When Alex first went to United, he had a similar set-up with Sir Matt Busby.
“Nothing technical, just how to deal with being the manager at that club. As a top manager, sometimes you can think you’re getting all the problems in the world and that it’s horrible.
“So it’s nice to sit and have a cup of tea with somebody who has been there, done that and survived – he’s OK, he’s not nuts.
“There are not many who have walked the road Ole is on right now.
“Sir Alex may say, ‘I had that with David Beckham or Jaap Stam, this is how I solved it, try that’.”