Eshlin Vedan
Manchester United could be set to sign PSG star Marco Verratti during the summer as the player is reconsidering his future with the French giants after being eliminated during the last-16 stage of the Champions League by Real Madrid this week. (Don Balon h/t Teamtalk)
Jose Mourinho has always been a fan of the Italian but he has always seemingly been out of reach and even rejected the advances of Barcelona last summer so that he could remain in France.
PSG signalled their intentions to be a major force in Europe this season by spending more than £350million in order to sign Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
However, despite their heavy spending, they have once again failed to launch a serious challenge for Europe’s elite competition and they have done nothing to remove their tag of under-achievers which many people believe that they are.
Mourinho is desperate to strengthen our midfield during the summer given that Michael Carrick is set to retire while the futures of Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera are all the subject of speculation.
Verratti is a quality midfielder who will add quality to our side and it now appears that Mourinho could offer him an exit from his European misery.
Verratti’s frustrations were on display on Tuesday night during the second leg of his sides’ Champions League last-16 clash against Madrid as he went on to receive a red-card at the Parc des Princes and it now appears that he is exploring the possibility of leaving PSG.
He is also managed by Mino Raiola who helped engineer the moves of Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the past.
PSG reportedly value Verratti at around £88million but reports from France suggest that they could ask us to include Anthony Martial in a deal which will see the 25-year-old Verratti arrive at Old Trafford in the summer.
But if any deal includes Martial, Mourinho will simply rule out as he cannot afford to lose our star Frenchman. Yes, we need quality midfielders in summer and Verratti ideally fits the bill to play in the Premier League.
The Italian is a stylish midfielder, keeps the ability to dictate the tempo of the game from the base of midfield. We need to fill in Carrick’s boot at the end of the season and there could be no better midfielder than Verratti to do that.
