A Manchester United beat writer has taken a sledgehammer to the club’s latest midfield target, and he didn’t even bother with a wind-up.
Samuel Luckhurst, who covers the Red Devils for The Sun, roasted United for making contact with Chelsea’s Andrey Santos. Then he suggested, only half-joking, that INEOS might just go ahead and call up Romeo Lavia next. Because at this point, why not?
United already have a deal in place for Atalanta’s Ederson Silva, pending the second part of his medical. But Michael Carrick’s side, heading back to the Champions League, need at least one more body in midfield. Casemiro is gone. Manuel Ugarte is out long-term. The need is real. The strategy is what’s drawing heat.
United’s midfield shortlist reads like a ‘for sale’ page
They kicked tires on Elliot Anderson, Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes. All three moved this summer for combined fees north of 300 million pounds. Anderson went to Manchester City for 116 million. Tottenham paid 85 million for Fernandes and 100 million for Tonali. United balked at every price tag.
So now they’re circling Santos, a 22-year-old Brazil international who’s spent most of his time at Chelsea not playing. Luckhurst pointed out that a quick search on Transfermarkt for the most valuable Premier League central midfielders aged 22 to 26 lists 10 names before you even get to Santos: Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Ryan Gravenberch, Tonali, Anderson, Adam Wharton, Carlos Baleba, Alex Scott, James Garner and Amadou Onana.
Fernandez and Caicedo are pipe dreams. Gravenberch is at Liverpool and not going anywhere. Tonali and Anderson just signed massive deals. United reportedly considers Wharton, Baleba and Scott overpriced. Garner signed an extension in January. Onana was looked at under the old regime. So here we are.
Transfer insider Fabrizio Romano confirmed United had contact with Santos’s agent as far back as February. They’ve had two meetings with Giuliano Bertolucci, the Brazilian agent. Christopher Vivell, formerly at Chelsea and now in United’s front office, knows Santos well. But Chelsea hasn’t received a bid yet.
Luckhurst didn’t hold back
He reminded readers that nine years ago, United bought Nemanja Matic from Chelsea after he’d just won the Premier League. Matic was a known quantity. Luckhurst’s line: If Andrey Santos walked down Deansgate, odds are no United fan would recognize him.
He said he detects an undercurrent of embarrassment at United over this whole Santos story. And he noted Santos has also been linked to 12th-place Newcastle. Which, in his view, makes more sense than a team whose players have been talking up a title challenge.
United’s transfer strategy is getting harder to defend by the day. They’re not shopping at the clearance rack. They’re picking through the lost and found.
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