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Manchester United exploring the option to sign La Liga winger with £51.5m release clause

Transfer News: Manchester United exploring Yannick Carrasco option.
Transfer News: Manchester United exploring Yannick Carrasco option.

Transfer News: Manchester United exploring summer move for Yannick Carrasco

According to AS (h/t Manchester Evening News), Manchester United are considering the option to sign Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco from Atletico Madrid this summer.

It has emerged in recent weeks that the talented Belgian has a £51.5m release clause in his Atletico Madrid contract. This has also caught the attention of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, both of who are keen on getting a deal done for the player.

The talented wide man initially joined Atletico Madrid from Monaco in 2015 and was largely disappointing in his first three seasons. He then left the Spanish club to move to the Chinese Super League for a couple of seasons.

Transfer News: Manchester United exploring Yannick Carrasco option.
Yannick Carrasco has been linked with a move away from Atletico Madrid

Eventually, he found his way back to the Spanish capital initially on loan and then on a permanent deal and has since then not looked back. The Belgian is one of Diego Simeone’s most important players and has a crucial role in the team.

This season, the versatile winger has played 44 times for the Spanish team across all competitions scoring six goals and providing seven assists. Simeone uses Carrasco in a variety of positions as a left-winger, right-winger, left-midfielder, and even as a left-wing-back at times.

It is not evident as to why Manchester United are even considering a deal for the Belgian since of all the positions in the team, goalkeeper and left-wing are probably the only two places where the Red Devils don’t need a replacement.

Transfer News: Manchester United exploring Yannick Carrasco option.
Erik ten Hag could do with an attacking reinforcement or more. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Carrasco is a versatile, hard-working player but if anyone has followed his career during his time at Atletico, they will know that he is not the kind of player with the skill-sets to succeed in an Erik ten Hag system.

In Marcus Rashford and Anthony Elanga, we have two amazing options to play out wide on the left and even Jadan Sancho is fluid enough to play on the left and right-wing with equal ease. Even if Man United want to bring in another winger, they must not be looking at a player of Carrasco’s profile.

Chelsea and Tottenham’s interest in the player is warranted. Carrasco is just the kind of player who would thrive in an Antonio Conte system playing as the left midfielder/ left-wing-back. We can however do without.

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£51.5m is no mean sum and Manchester United could use that money elsewhere to bring in the kind of players who would thrive in a ten Hag team. We need to get our priorities right and invest in positions where we actually are in dire need of reinforcements.

Signing a winger can wait. Unless it is someone really special like Antony who the Red Devils are being linked with, we must not spend money to sign a player for a position where we have enough depth.

Written by Pranav Kannan

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