Manchester United are set to beat Premier League rivals Chelsea and Liverpool to the signing of Barcelona winger Pedro, Guardian Sport reports.
The Red Devils have already strengthened their squad with four new additions during the summer transfer window as Memphis Depay, Matteo Darmian, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin were all signed in time for the club’s pre-season tour of the United States.
Now it would appear that the manager Louis van Gaal is set to turns his attentions to adding firepower in attack after deciding against turning Radamel Falcao’s loan spell into a permanent one [via Guardian Sport] and following the departure of Robin van Persie, who completed his move to Turkish outfit Fenerbahce earlier in the week [via Mail Sport].
It had been reported that Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani is van Gaal’s number one transfer target [via Guardian Sport], however the cheaper option of Pedro looks to be on the cards this summer.
The 27-year-old was often used as a substitute last season as manager Luis Enrique refused to tinker with his brilliant attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.
Pedro was still able to weigh in with a number of important goals last season including one against Real Sociedad which left Barca on the cusp of being crowned champions of Spain.
Despite signing a new deal with the Catalan giants just last month, the Spanish winger looks set to depart the Camp Nou before the transfer window slams shut on September 1 following the arrival of Arda Turan from La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid [via BBC Sport] and his buy-out clause has been reduced from £109million to £22million [via Guardian Sport].
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van Gaal is reportedly set to trigger Pedro’s release clause which is likely to be a blow for Chelsea and Liverpool, who have both been heavily linked with signing the player in the last few weeks [via Mail Sport].