Jamie Ireland
Since the exit of centre-back partnership Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, it was obvious that van Gaal would look to replace that with at least one top quality defender.
Spanish paper AS is reporting that Manchester United are willing to meet the buy-out clause in the Brazilian defender’s contract, which is believed to be around €30 million.
Miranda joined Atletico from Sao Paulo in 2011 on a free transfer, and has been ever-present making 90 appearances since then.
This season he formed a formidable partnership with Uruguayan Diego Godin, and the two were the heart of the best defence in La Liga as Atletico only conceded 26 goals in 38 matches.
Atletico have been unbelievable this season, they broke Real Madrid and Barcelona’s dominance in Spain and won La Liga for the first time since 1996, as well as appearing in the Champions League final.
It was always a real possibility that a team like Atletico who don’t have the financial muscle of other big clubs, might struggle to keep their star players after such achievements.
They have already lost their talismanic striker Diego Costa to Chelsea and could also lose their gargantuan goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to the West Londoners.
Miranda is the perfect fit for Manchester United’s backline right now, tall, powerful, experienced and most of all he is mobile.
As good as Vidic and Ferdinand were, they were always exposed when they came up against real pace like Liverpool or Manchester City have.
At 29 years-old Miranda is in the prime of his footballing life and has all the attributes needed to be a success in the Premier League.
Not only that, whatever club snatches him up won’t have to worry about fatigue from a World Cup campaign, because Luiz Felipe Scolari inexplicably left him out!
