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Paul Merson says his ‘worry’ about Patrick Dorgu is that Italy’s elite clubs appeared to give Manchester United a free run at landing the Lecce full-back this winter.
United are expected to announce the arrival of Dorgu over the coming days, with the highly rated 20-year-old wing-back set to become the first signing of Ruben Amorim’s tenure.
After seeing an initial bid knocked back for Dorgu, United wrapped up a deal worth in the region of £29million with Lecce and the Denmark international flew to Manchester this morning to complete a medical.
The Red Devils identified the left side of Amorim’s defence as a key priority heading into the January transfer window, in part due to Luke Shaw’s injury problems over the last few seasons – which have forced Diogo Dalot to switch flanks.
United are confident Dorgu’s profile aligns with the 3-4-3 system favoured by Amorim and the youngster represents a significantly cheaper alternative to the likes of Nuno Mendes and Milos Kerkez.
However, ex-Arsenal and England midfielder Merson believes the apparent lack of interest from Serie A’s ‘big boys’ in Dorgu should be cause for concern for United fans.
‘You know what? I’m always one of them… when someone rips it up or does well in Italy, I always think: if Inter Milan and Juventus and Napoli and AC Milan are not coming for you…’ Merson said on Sky Sports News.
When reminded that Napoli had been linked with Dorgu, Merson replied: ‘Just Napoli…
‘And they [Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan] are watching him week in, week out over the last year or so, I just find that strange.
‘I don’t know why, I just find that strange.’
Merson pointed to the example of Rasmus Hojlund, who has struggled to live up to his £64m price tag since swapping Atalanta for Old Trafford 18 months ago.
‘We’ve seen it with Hojlund. Hojlund came for a lot of money and the big boys didn’t go in for him in Italy and look what’s happened,’ he aded.
‘He [Hojlund] hasn’t scored a lot of goals and they’ve probably seen that he was too young at the time.
‘That would be my only worry [with Dorgu] but he can’t do any worse.’
Speaking in the wake of his side’s 3-1 defeat of Parma on Friday, Lecce manager Marco Giampaolo confirmed it was only a matter of time before Dorgu joined United.
‘I think Dorgu will be in Manchester tomorrow,’ he told reporters shortly after the left-back was seen waving goodbye to Lecce supporters.
‘A splendid boy, he gave us everything he had. At 20 you have this opportunity, maybe you also have other thoughts in your head, it didn’t seem right to me to make him play neither for Lecce nor for himself.
‘If I needed him, I would have used him, I thought about it but the temptation was brief.’
United remain in the hunt for attacking reinforcements before the January transfer deadline and Bayern Munich’s Mathys Tel, who last week rejected Tottenham, has emerged as a possible target.
Marcus Rashford is expected to head in the opposite direction, with Aston Villa now the frontrunners to close a deal for the out-of-favour England forward.
The likes of AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and West Ham have also been credited with an interest in Rashford since he intimated he was seeking a ‘new challenge’ in December.
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