Home » Man United set to miss out on both Dusan Vlahovic and Julian Alvarez

Man United set to miss out on both Dusan Vlahovic and Julian Alvarez

by Red Billy

Manchester United are in danger of losing out on three of the hottest young strikers in world football, leaving themselves reliant on the aging forward line of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani.

Much has been written about their pursuit of Erling Haaland, from narrowly missing out on his signature in January 2020 when he moved to Borussia Dortmund from RB Salzburg, to the present day.

However, recent reports have claimed that the Norwegian has his heart set on joining Real Madrid when his €75 million release clause becomes active in June. United for their part are reported to have admitted defeat and dropped interest.

The hottest property on the Italian market right now is Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic. The 21-year-old is Serie A’s top goalscorer this season and is also available for €75 million. Unlike Haaland, he could be sold in this window as Fiorentina look to secure a deal ‘in the slipstream’ of all the activity around Haaland, to quote The Independent’s Miguel Delaney.

But despite initial reports linking United with an interest, Arsenal seem to be the only English club seriously pursuing him in this window.

The Gunners are pushing for a top four finish and with the disciplinary problems surrounding Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a striker is one of their top priorities.

The issue for United is that if they do not act now, they will miss the boat if, as expected, Arsenal make their move.

‘While every club in Europe wants to sign [Haaland] this summer, only one will win and that is currently expected to be Real Madrid. Several top clubs could subsequently turn their attention to Vlahovic,’ Delaney writes.

‘By then, Arsenal could well be a Champions League club again too, but Vlahovic’s arrival this month would undoubtedly help those chances.’

United would also be wise to consider that the top four spot that Arsenal are gunning for is one that they themselves hope to clinch. It could be a mistake to allow a rival to strengthen with such a strong, young, talented forward to help them achieve that aim, especially when United themselves will desperately need such a player in six months’ time.

Another ship that may be sailing without a red flag on the mast is that of River Plate’s Julian Alvarez.

Another talented 21 year old who also finished his league as top goalscorer, Alvarez is considerably cheaper than Vlahovic at €20 million. United were strongly rumoured to be about to trigger his release clause in this window but those rumours have also subsided.

The latest report from Argentina (Olé, via Tuttosport) claims that ‘Napoli, Atalanta and Nice: these are, at the moment, the only three clubs really interested in Julián Álvarez.’

As we discussed here earlier today, fans had hoped that this window would see a lot of outgoing activity as well as one or two fresh faces coming in as the Red Devils push for a top four finish. As things stand, it is looking as if those hopes could be dashed.

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