The road to rebuilding the squad is huge at Manchester United for Ruben Amorim and the summer transfer window can’t come soon enough.
This season is already a write-off and yet, continues to disappoint with bad one result after another, laying bare the holes in the Man Utd squad.
The summer window promises to be a blockbuster one with the list of targets for the club already taking shape in terms of personnel and positions.
One such player on that potential list looks increasingly gettable after Fabrizio Romano’s latest update on his future aligns with United’s aims.
Man Utd target set to leave in the summer
United’s recent financial results prove that even though they have ambitious plans for the summer, it isn’t a case of presenting blank cheques to potential players/selling teams.
Therefore, looking for bargains or players who are already on the transfer list is the way to go so as to execute an intelligent rebuild.
In that vein, Fabrizio Romano’s update on Atalanta’s forward Ademola Lookman will come as music to the ears of Man Utd.
United’s interest in Lookman stretches back to the summer and it was reignited as the January window approached because he suits perfectly in the No. 10 role in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1.
Romano has now said that Lookman’s transfer will happen this year amid his tiff with head coach Gian Piero Gasperini after he called Lookman out brutally recently.
Romano said: “Understand plan remains for Ademola Lookman to LEAVE Atalanta this summer. Atalanta will try to clarify the situation with Gasperini in the next 24h after strong quotes… but won’t change future plans.
“It was already planned last summer, transfer to happen this year.”
Ademola Lookman is a perfect fit but issues remain
Tactically, Lookman is a perfect fit for Man Utd and recent events have probably made him easier to extract out of Atalanta than he was a week ago.
However, Lookman’s response to Gasperini’s criticism is also a double-edged sword.
It has made Lookman’s position at the club effectively untenable but also presented itself as a red flag about his professionalism.
Granted, Gasperini’s words were unnecessarily harsh and it can be argued that Lookman was just defending himself but the public manner he did it in leaves some questions.
Both parties should have dealt with it internally and neither comes out looking too good from the whole situation.
United and Amorim need to get their scouting right before proceeding to sign Lookman, they can’t afford another dressing room problem.
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