Manchester United could make up for missing out on Moises Caicedo as fellow Premier League outfit Luton Town walk away from a deal to bring Oscar Zambrano to England.
A young, highly-rated Ecuadorian midfielder on the radar of Manchester United.
We’ve been here before, of course, United missing out on the most expensive footballer in Premier league history when he was available for just £4 million. One of many post-Sir Alex Ferguson blunders the Red Devils have been left to regret.
“Manchester United are in direct contact with the agents of Moises Caicedo,” Fabrizio Romano wrote on X three years ago this month.
“The agreement on personal terms (a five-year contract) won’t be a problem. Man United ‘control’ the situation and will decide soon whether to complete the deal or not.”
Manchester United can avenge Moises Caicedo failiure
The rest, as they say, is history. United took their foot off the gas, Brighton stepped in, Caicedo blossomed into one of the finest defensive midfielders in Europe and then eventually joined Chelsea for £110 million more than he’d have cost the men from Manchester two-and-a-half years earlier.
The availability of Oscar Zambrano for a similarly low-cost fee at least offers Man United an opportunity to atone for the mistakes of bygone windows. There is interest from Old Trafford.
Barcelona and Juventus too. And just £6 million, the similarities between the Zambrano situation and the Caicedo one are evident, with Luton Town in the Brighton role this time around (TuttoJuve).
But while Brighton succeeded in snatching Caicedo from United’s grasp, it seems that Luton will not do the same.
“Luton Town got off the table for Oscar Zambrano,” Esteban Paz, sporting director of LDU Quito, tells MachDeportes. “(Their offer of around £3.5 million) does not meet our expectations.”
Luton pull out of Oscar Zambrano discussions
A bid of £7 million, however, could do the trick.
Zambrano’s reputation as Ecuador’s next Moises Caicedo, meanwhile, goes beyond their shared nationalities, and the fact that both players came through the same academy. There are striking similarities in the way they play the game too, Zambrano snatching back possession with his telescopic, spiderish legs before spraying the ball out to the wings and dictating play from deep.
United, you may recall, defeated Zambrano’s LDU Quito outfit in the Club World Cup final back in 2008, Wayne Rooney scoring the only goal.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
