Manchester United are moving quickly on sales as the transfer window ticks to a close, with two deals moving quickly recently.
Facundo Pellistri’s transfer to Panathinaikos should be confirmed before the end of the week, while Burnley’s interest developed in completing Hannibal Mejbri’s transfer.
The Manchester United squad will undoubtedly look a lot different at the end of the window but these two are still minor sales.
Scott McTominay is the sale which will do wonders for Manchester United and their finances, and teams have been interested in him.
Fabrizio Romano has dropped the latest update on his transfer where the presence of an ex-Man United player adds a new twist to the saga.
Fabrizio Romano on Scott McTominay transfer
The field for McTominay thinned recently when Fulham, instead of paying United’s asking price for the player, bought the player United were looking at as contingency in Sander Berge.
United have stuck to their guns for the midfielder, asking for a package close to £25 million which would free up a lot of wiggle room in finances. Napoli’s sporting director even traveled to England to speed up the deal.
However, first Fulham refused to pay it, and now the Napoli deal has seen a new twist added to it which will give fans a feeling of deja vu.
Romano says that Napoli have asked for conditions to complete a deal for Sofyan Amrabat as United keep asking for a €30 million package for McTominay.
Amrabat, as is well known, spent the last season on loan at Old Trafford and was eager to join up with the team this season as well.
However, he remains a contingency, just like Berge, if the club fails to land Manuel Ugarte. Therefore, if Napoli move for him, it would be the second time that a club refused a move for McTominay and signed United’s contingency plan instead.
Romano does imply, however, that the deal for the Scottish player is not dead so developments on this can be expected as the window ticks to a close.
A complicated domino
Amrabat is not the only ex-Man United player involved in this complicated domino of transfers that could add madness to the last few days of the window.
Napoli have clear admiration for Romelu Lukaku, who is their top priority for this summer. For this deal to happen, they need to sell Victor Osimhen, who has been effectively removed from first-team activities at the club.
It is thought that Lukaku will cost much less than Osimhen potentially, which would allow Napoli to strengthen in other positions, which is where McTominay comes into the picture.
That move might gain pace once the Lukaku-Osimhen swap with Chelsea is completed which will be separate deals for financial purposes.
Napoli could be dithering and trying to get McTominay before that swap is completed as going into the market when teams know you’ve just made a sale is a recipe to get rinsed.
Therefore, this might be a game of poker that stretches all the way through the end of the window as multiple deals hinge on multiple players moving to different clubs, all connected by a single thread.
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