Bayern block United hopes of late swoop for Rodriguez
UNITED’S hopes of signing James Rodriguez have been killed off by a swift move from Bayern Munich for the Real Madrid forward.
The Germans have bought the 25-year-old Colombian on a two-year loan deal from the Bernabeu.
United had been linked with a move for Rodriguez after his game time at Real Madrid had suffered under Zinedine Zidane. He started only 22 La Liga matches last term as Real won the title.
He didn’t even make the bench for the Champions League final against Juventus in Cardiff in May.
United were said to be keen to end his misery in Madrid, with Mourinho having him on his summer wish list.
Having secured the signings of defender Victor Lindelof from Benfica, the Reds moved on to land £75m Romelu Lukaku. Rodriguez was seen as a potential foil and provider for the former Everton striker.
But Bayern have nipped in quickly without having to even pay a fee, securing him on the two-season deal. UNITED are only halfway through completing their priority signings – and their first XI is already shaping up to be a credible title challenger.
Jose Mourinho has kept a world-class goalkeeper in David de Gea, Antonio Valencia was arguably the Premier League’s outstanding right-back last term, the Eric BaillyVictor Lindelof axis could spark a slicker playing style and Luke Shaw’s enhanced professionalism augurs well.
Ander Herrera is an emerging United captain, Paul Pogba’s colossal crescendo to his comeback season suggests he is comfortable as the team’s talisman, Henrikh Mkhitaryan proved he was the solution to the playmaker problem and Romelu Lukaku is a potential world-class goalscorer who is also Premier League proven.
There are diamonds still being polished in Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford. Sergio Romero, Michael Carrick and Juan Mata are just some of the quality in reserve and the squad size - currently 28 is a healthier number than the depleted figure which limped to sixth last season.
Mourinho also used Sunday’s pre-season tour squad announcement - which omitted Lukaku - to nudge Ed Woodward. Demetri Mitchell’s reward for an accomplished season at left-back for the Reserves might be to partly offset the injured Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Ashley Young, but holding midfielder Scott McTominay was a more surprising selection. United want to recruit an upgrade for that area.
Nemanja Matic and Eric Dier remain under consideration. A Matic deal has always depended on Chelsea signing Tiemoue Bakayoko.
The ‘England international premium’ and Daniel Levy ensures Dier would command a record fee for a central midfielder, maybe £20m more than Matic (Dier only turned 23 in January and Matic’s 29th birthday is on August 1). Chelsea insist Bakayoko will join them, even though United have also monitored him for months.
Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic brazenly liked Pogba’s Instagram upload of his chat with Lukaku at the weekend and started his own transfer teasing with the hashtag ‘#destinationunknown.’ He has since linked up with teammates in Milan and United have not met the Nerazurri’s £44m valuation. Mourinho wanted to sign more than four players last year and the circumstances are similar this summer. United envisaged Antoine Griezmann as a playmaking foil for either Lukaku or Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his rejection preceded Wayne Rooney’s Everton homecoming. Mkhitaryan and Mata provide stellar options in the hole, but United could overcompensate for their profligate 2016-17 campaign, particularly without Ibrahimovic’s marksmanship skills. A back-up in the mould of Mourinho’s previous substitute strikers Salomon Kalou or Demba Ba might be prudent. Senior United sources stressed last week Lukaku was always United’s ‘principal target’ to Samuel Luckhurst