United should be going all out for City’s top target.
With reports from BBC Sport that Manchester United midfielder Angel Di Maria is closing in on a likely transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, here’s a look at the one player who seems an absolutely ideal replacement for the Argentine flop.
That player is Wolfsburg attacker Kevin De Bruyne, who has been strongly linked with Manchester City this summer. A recent report from the Daily Mirror claims he could be headed for a £60m move to the Etihad Stadium in what would be a hugely exciting deal, but it’s one United should be trying to prevent.
With Di Maria leaving, the Red Devils will be in need of strengthening in that position again, even if Memphis Depay has come in this summer and looks a potentially world class talent, and even if Juan Mata regained something close to his best form last season.
Louis van Gaal admitted yesterday (via the Guardian) that his side lack a genuine world class creative player, and De Bruyne looks the best fit for that role in his team right now. The Belgian international, formerly of Chelsea, managed an incredible ten goals and 20 assists for Wolfsburg last season, establishing himself as one of the very best in Europe in his position. This even led to some rumours in May (via the Metro) that United could be ready to join the running for his signature, though this never seemed to materialise.
Bizarrely, City have already signed Raheem Sterling to add to the likes of David Silva and Yaya Toure in a superb attacking midfield, so there’s certainly a case to be made that United would be able to offer De Bruyne more of a key role in their team if he made the move to Old Trafford instead.
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Of course, if the Mirror’s rumoured fee of £60m is correct, then this move could always be a risk in the same way that Di Maria’s has proven to be. BBC Sport put the 27-year-old’s transfer fee as £59.7m last year, but with the former Real Madrid man badly failing to settle in England, the club may be cautious about shelling out so much money again so soon.
Still, while Di Maria was a useful part of an otherwise very strong Real Madrid team, with players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to boost his assist stats by simply being superb goalscorers, De Bruyne has largely had to start again after failing to make the grade at Chelsea, and has accomplished these superb stats in an otherwise weak side, at least in comparison to the calibre of player he’d be alongside in Manchester. With the likes of Depay, Wayne Rooney and Bastian Schweinsteiger around him, who knows what he could achieve?
Another article in the Daily Mirror claims United stand to make £46m from the sale of Di Maria, and that money should surely be reinvested in De Bruyne before a move for him to end up in the blue half of Manchester unfolds.