A round-up of news and gossip relating to Manchester United over the past 24 hours.
After missing out of Paris Saint-Germain bound Luca Moura, Manchester United will redirect remaining transfer funds to fellow Brazilian Ganso. Sir Alex Ferguson regards the 22-year-old attacking midfielder as an upgrade in the midfield positions particularly with the evergreen, yet ageing, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Ganso has failed to negotiate a new contract with Santos and his agent Deicir Sonda recently stated to Brazilian radio that the player would not play for the Brazilian club anymore, which could progress the potential transfer quicker. The player could be available at £25m.
Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed in a post-match interview last night that United had made a bid for Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie and that the club would ‘persevere’ in their pursuit of the striker. The United boss also revealed that Arsenal are in talks with other clubs and have thus far been inscrutable in their response to United’s bid. According to The Mirror, Arsenal are prepared to sell their talisman and captain but would demand £5m more from the Manchester club as the only English club remaining in the pursuit of Van Persie.
If United’s bid for Robin Van Persie is accepted, they are likely to offer the striker wages in the region of £220,000 per week, which would place him alongside Wayne Rooney as the club’s top-earner. Ferguson is keen to purchase the player and win back the title from rivals City.
Manchester United played out a 0-0 draw with Barcelona in Gothenburg last night before losing 2-0 on penalties after the 90 minutes. Wayne Rooney missed United’s best chance to score when they were awarded a penalty in first-half stoppage time. United fired another blank and the last time they hit the net was 3 games ago when Kagawa scored against Shanghai Shenhua but Ferguson was not concerned by the lack of goals. Rather, he was focused more on raising the fitness levels of his squad and readying them for the league opener away at Everton next week.
Manchester United will become the most valuable club in the world upon their imminent flotation on the New York Stock Exchange. A successful uptake of shares will see the club worth $3bn and interest from investors has been strong. $330m is estimated to be raised from the sale, half of which will pay of the club’s debt with the other half going to the Glazer family.
United have a defensive concern for the opening game at Everton next week with only one fully-fit central defender. Nemanja Vidic played a half of football against Valerenga in his return from an 8-month layoff but Michael Carrick covered at centre-half to partner Rio Ferdinand in the game against Barcelona. Jonny Evans is still recovering from injury but Phil Jones picked up a back injury on pre-season tour and Chris Smalling will be sidelined for three further months.
In the culmination of one of the summer’s most tenuous transfer sagas, Ferguson has expressed his disbelief at the excessive fee Paris Saint-Germain have paid for Lucas Moura. He told the club’s official website: “I find it quite amazing that a club can pay €45m for a 19-year-old boy.” The manager believes the signings the Parisian club have made this summer will catapult them into Europe’s elite but worries for their financial viability in accordance with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play agreement.
The failure to sign the Brazilian attacker has perhaps left a bitter taste in Ferguson’s mouth especially as it emerged that Manchester United had in fact agreed a deal with Sao Paulo with the player’s personal preference for Paris a crucial factor in his decision to move to the French club. The player’s agent Wagner Ribeiro told UOL that his client was also intrigued by PSG’s plans and that Brazilian legend Leonardo’s presence at the club as sporting director influenced his decision.
image: © brostad
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