You know summer is here when Manchester United are linked to Saul Niguez.
Last summer a ludicrous report from the Daily Star claimed United were ready to pay £135 million to sign Atletico Madrid star Saul Niguez.
The report stated: “United are willing to meet the buy-out clause in Niguez’s nine-year deal at Atletico – and make him one of the highest-paid stars in the team.”
This looked blatantly untrue at the time especially in light of the pandemic, and Saul played out the season with Atletico, winning a title.
This summer his status could change with Saul’s future in doubt.
Saul is up for sale
A salary cap in La Liga is restricting Atletico Madrid’s attempts to sign a striker and they see selling Saul as a solution, report AS.
Over the past week Atletico and Barcelona have been trying to help each other out by negotiating a trade for Saul and Antoine Griezmann, but this has not been easy and AS report ‘the barter has cooled’ in recent days.
So Saul Niguez’s agent has reportedly been contacting Premier League clubs, one of which is Manchester United.
Atletico have recently signed Rodrigo de Paul and so can afford to offload Saul and keep a strong side.
AS report Saul could be sold for as little as 40 million Euros (£34 million), and narrow down his possible destinations to Barcelona, Liverpool, and Manchester United.
Is there space for Saul and are United just bein used here?
Saul is a top player who could benefit any leading team. But do United really have a spot open for him?
United’s midfield is packed, with Fred, Scott McTominay, Donny van de Beek among those battling for places.
While there is a case Saul is superior to any and each of those, United have no plans to let any go, and the main midfield player with an uncertain future is Paul Pogba.
If Pogba is sold as he has just one year left on his deal then Saul would be a very astute acquisition especially at the price he is reportedly available for.
But Atletico seem to want a swift solution here and United currently seem to have other priorities.
Most likely is that United are being used to pressure Barcelona and a complicated swap with Griezmann eventually gets done.
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