Manchester United made a big splash in the transfer window last month when they sealed deals for Dutch striker Joshua Zirkzee and French defender Leny Yoro.
The £90million double swoop addressed two key areas for the club who are looking to bounce back from an eighth-place Premier League finish last season, but more signings are expected before the window shuts at the end of the month.
A foot injury to Yoro during the pre-season defeat to Arsenal has ruled the £52million teenager out for up to three months, which again brings the issue of the club’s device into play.
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Prior to Yoro’s arrival the Red Devils were linked with a move for Bayern Munich centre-back Matthijs De Ligt, while the Dutchman’s club teammate Noussair Mazraoui has also been the subject of transfer speculation, with Erik ten Hag believed to see him as an ideal replacement for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who the club are looking to offload.
Mazraoui has also been linked with West Ham, but according to transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano on X, the Red Devils will go back in both Mazraoui and De Ligt and are set to go back to Bayern Munich for talks.
He adds that agreements are already in place with both players, who have both agreed five-year deals that will run until 2029 and that representatives from both players are ‘confident’ that a deal will be done. Romano also added on his Here We Go podcast they would expect a double deal to cost £60million.
This comes after a report from journalist Sani Aouna at the weekend which claimed Bayern had authorised Mazraoui to move and that a medical was booked in for Tuesday, with Ten Hag wanting to seal a move for the 26-year-old in time for Saturday’s FA Community Shield match against Manchester City.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, deals for the former Ajax pair, who Ten Hag has previously worked with, make sense. The club’s defence needed major work after shipping in 58 goals in the Premier League last season and in terms of age, experience and reliability, both tick plenty of boxes.
Cost could be the only sticking point - Mazaraoui is valued at €30million by Transfermarkt and De Ligt more than double that at €65million, which would mean player sales would be a must if the club are going to avoid falling foul of their PSR commitments. Wan-Bissaka’s sale would help raise some funds here, but if the club was to complete this double swoop, it does not give them much room to manoeuvre if they want to bolster their midfield.
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