Heading into the week, United had completed just first transfer and were hot in pursuit of Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata. United ended the week by reaching an agreement for another world class striker.
ALVARO MORATA AND ROMELU LUKAKU
United began the week with Jose Mourinho demanding the signing of Alvaro Morata to be completed by Thursday. United even bid for Morata if reports were to be believed. The deal was in the region of £70m. But Real refused to accept it and wanted at least £10m more. Morata’s agent and father had a nearly hour-long meeting with Real officials but could not persuade them to accept the bid. Following a calm couple of days, media exploded with reports of a £75m agreement with Everton for Romelu Lukaku. The Lukaku agreement was eventually confirmed by United earlier today. The move was reportedly planned meticulously over the summer and the Morata deal was a smokescreen to catch Chelsea, who were favorites to sign the Belgian. The deal will be wrapped up soon and Lukaku will be officially unveiled as a United player late on Saturday or on Sunday.
WAYNE ROONEY
An era has ended at United as the sun sets on a legendary career at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney looks set to return to his boyhood club, Everton. Rooney has been a favorite to leave United this summer. United were looking for a fee in the region of £15-20m for their all-time leading scorer. After negotiations with Everton, United agreed to waive the transfer fee for Rooney and Everton agreed to bring the asking price for Lukaku down to £75m. Rooney has reportedly been omitted from the Tour 2017 squad and a decision to replace him with Michael Carrick as Captain was also made.
FEDERICO BERNARDESCHI
Manchester United turned their attention to Italy international Federico Bernardeschi after a lack of agreement with Inter Milan over the transfer of Ivan Perisic. While Fiorentina are expected to play hardball, the player reportedly refused to accept a new contract. Fiorentina director declared that his club would not sell one for his star players at any cost but with the player refusing to sign on the dotted line, the club could be forced to cash in one of Europe’s brightest prospects.
NEMANJA MATIC
With United reaching an agreement for Romelu Lukaku, who was the Champions’ priority over the summer, the transfer for Nemanja Matic is expected to fall through. Chelsea are now expected to refuse to sell one of the stars of their title winning squad to a team that can be considered their one of their biggest challengers in 2017-18. United will look to sign Roma’s Rajda Nainggolan and have made an initial contact with Roma for the player.
FABINHO
Manchester United will now look to sign Monaco midfielder Fabinho after securing the services of Romelu Lukaku. United and PSG will go head to head for the Brazilian, who was a vital part of Monaco’s squad that won the French League and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. The fact that Monaco will prefer to sell to United should help things. I wouldn’t be surprised if an announcement is reached in the coming week.