United getting business head on for players
UNITED football director John Murtough attended Tottenham’s 3-0 victory over Arsenal on Thursday night as United’s recruitment plans accelerate.
Murtough met incoming manager Erik ten Hag in Amsterdam on Thursday and then returned to England to attend additional recruitment meetings.
United are weighing up a possible deal for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie
de Jong and are aiming to sign another midfielder, at least one forward and a centre-back. Moves for a full-back and a goalkeeper are also under consideration, depending on outgoings.
Although United have one more game this season at Crystal Palace, senior club figures are already keen to draw a line under a disastrous campaign and place the emphasis on next season.
Murtough was in attendance for United’s FA Youth Cup final victory over Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Ten Hag is understood to have reached out to De Jong’s agent, Ali Dursun, to gauge whether De Jong would be receptive to joining United. Dursun has also represented Donny van de Beek since October.
De Jong, 25, is contracted to Barcelona until 2026 but the financial disarray at the club could lead to his departure this summer.
City were again linked with De Jong last week, having attempted to sign him in 2019.
Barcelona signed De
Jong for £65million three years ago and, despite their debt of £1.2bn, would be reluctant to take a loss on a mid-20s international who came through the Ajax academy.
De Jong is expected to start for the Netherlands at the World Cup.
United have been working on a move for Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips separate to De Jong. Leeds have been hopeful of keeping Phillips for one more year but they are now favourites to be relegated and have only two fixtures remaining. Phillips, 26, is about to change agents with the intention of securing a transfer and is under contract at Leeds until 2024. The England international has spent his entire career at Elland Road. United are still interested in Villarreal centre-back Pau Torres, having explored the possibility of signing Antonio Rudiger when his contract expires next month, but the Chelsea defender is set to join Real Madrid.
The outgoing director of negotiations Matt Judge enquired about a young Premier League striker last month. Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Edinson Cavani and Lee Grant are all due to leave when their contracts run out in June, Eric Bailly and Phil Jones want to leave, and Dean Henderson will seek regular playing time elsewhere if he is not Ten Hag’s first choice goalkeeper. Anthony Martial is available for transfer and United could cut their losses with defender Aaron WanBissaka.
Murtough met incoming manager Ten Hag in Amsterdam on Thursday Samuel Luckhurst