United will wait to bag £26m Roma star
MANCheSTeR UNITeD are ready to wait until the summer to move for Roma’s Lorenzo Pellegrini – after discovering they can trigger a £26.5million clause in the midfielder’s contract.
United have been monitoring the 22-year-old after Jose Mourinho was told the club would only contemplate bringing in young players with a potential sell-on value.
United were looking to seal a deal in January, but they are now aware that Pellegrini will be available at a bargain price at the end of the season.
Roma have been desperately trying to persuade Pellegrini to sign a new deal so that they can remove the buy-out option.
The midfielder has been capped nine times by Italy and is regarded as one of the Azzurri’s hottest prospects.
Ironically, while United are circling Roma for one of their upand-coming stars, the Italians are ready to offer Old Trafford veteran Ashley Young a Serie A swansong.
Young, 33, is out of contract at the end of the season and Roma are ready to hand him a two-anda-half-year deal to persuade him to quit Manchester.
The former England international (above) has reinvented himself as a full-back under Mourinho. The Reds are ready to offer the ex-Watford and Aston Villa winger a 12month deal that would extend his stay with United to nine years.
And Young has suggested he is willing to take a pay cut to make the deal happen.
But the prospect of playing abroad – in addition to a longer contract – will be tempting.
As revealed by Sunday Mirror Sport in October, United are facing a contract time-bomb, with 11 players moving towards the last six months of current deals.
David de Gea, Anthony Martial, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones, Matteo Darmian, James Wilson and Andreas Pereira all have deals that include the option of a 12-month extension.
But Young, Juan Mata and Ander Herrera can all walk away at the end of the season.
Martial and De Gea are also generating interest from Italy.
Pereira will be a wanted man in the January window. It is understood United are ready to cash in on the Brazilian international.
Mourinho has helped transform the 22-year-old into a holding midfielder and there is interest from Monaco, Inter Milan and Valencia. But Arsenal and Chelsea are also keen.