Man United looking at French international midfielder as Neves deal subsides

Man United are keeping themselves busy in the transfer market, however, a deal for Joao Neves looks a difficult one to complete.

According to CaughtOffside sources with knowledge of the current situation at Old Trafford, Paris Saint-Germain are the latest club to make a bid for the 19-year-old’s services, though the €80m on the table falls well short of the €120m that Benfica are hoping to get in return for allowing Neves to move on.

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United are already in advanced talks to land Bologna’s excellent front man, Joshua Zirkzee, and it’s widely accepted that Bayern Munich’s Matthijs de Ligt only wants to sign for the Red Devils.

That will see him reunite with old Ajax manager, Erik ten Hag, and help to shore up what’s been a leaky and unreliable back line.

At €120m, ten Hag won’t insist on Neves, but CaughtOffside sources note that Juve’s Adrien Rabiot is seriously being considered as an alternative.

There’s also the possibility that Manuel Ugarte finds his way to Old Trafford if PSG do end up landing Neves.

Liverpool are out of the picture as far as Neves is concerned, as they too consider his transfer fee to be far too prohibitive.

Although pre-season has already begun for those players not representing their countries at Euro 2024, the Copa America or the Olympic Games, there’s still plenty of time left in the transfer market for clubs to land their preferred targets.

From United’s point of view, now that they have all of the moving parts in place, in terms of board structure, they can start to move forward quickly in the marketplace.

Though the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules will limit what they can do financially, a handful of astute sales will put some more money in the coffers.