Home » Manchester United’s stretched transfer funds may lead to Paul Pogba sale

Manchester United’s stretched transfer funds may lead to Paul Pogba sale

by Red Billy

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confessed that his summer transfer budget will be affected by the purchase of Bruno Fernandes in January, reports The Evening Standard.

When asked about summer signings and whether Fernandes’ fee will reduce the amount made available, the manager replied ‘It won’t be six or seven coming in definitely … of course signings and expenditure will affect your budget.’

It is being widely reported that Manchester United are targeting defender Kalidou Koulibaly, forward Jadon Sancho and midfielder James Maddison in the summer, whose combined valuations are in the region of ÂŁ270 million.

The Mirror are leading with the Koulibaly story, claiming that the Napoli centre back will be the Red Devils’ number one transfer target.

There would be stiff opposition for the 28-year-old, with Real Madrid, PSG and Chelsea all also interested in securing his services. The Star reports that he is open to the idea of a move to England.

Napoli are believed to value the Senegalese at around ÂŁ90 million.

Meanwhile The Mail are reporting that Jadon Sancho is top of United’s shopping list. It is believed that Borussia Dortmund will be willing to let the Englishman leave at the end of the season, but he is likely to have a price tag in excess of ÂŁ100 million.

Chelsea are again reportedly vying with United for the player’s signature.

Leicester’s Maddison is the only player at whom the Reds may have a clear run, but Leicester are known to drive a hard bargain and are unlikely to let the player go for less than £80 million.

With United’s owners the Glazer family highly unlikely to sanction spending of that nature, it is unclear where the funds will come from. Assuming the 2020/21 season budget is around the same as that of 2019/20 – which at best was reported to be ÂŁ200 million – with Fernandes’ ÂŁ47 million being deducted, the amount available in the summer for OlĂ© Solskjaer would only be around ÂŁ150 million, some ÂŁ120 million short of the funds needed for the three targets.

One possible way of bridging the gap would be through the sale of Paul Pogba, whom the Reds value at ÂŁ150 million.

Latest Top Stories...