Manchester United are preparing for life without Cristiano Ronaldo – and a shock target has emerged.
The first time that United sold Cristiano Ronaldo, Sir Alex Ferguson opted not to replace the Portuguese directly, instead recreating the goals that he would offer from different sources.
Antonio Valencia took over the No.7 shirt after joining from Wigan Athletic, offering potent crossing from the right flank – and this time, United may go for another surprise signing to replace CR7.
Transfer insider Gianluca Di Marzio says that the Red Devils could well entertain a move for Argentinian forward Paulo Dybala, who is now out of contract – a surprise, of sorts, considering the more traditional, physical forwards that the club have been linked with in recent months, such as Darwin Nunez and Sebastien Haller.
"They are looking for a No.9 and if they get Dybala they will have to change their playing style," Di Marzio said, speaking to wettfreunde, "But he's on United's list."
"It's difficult to say because Inter had the opportunity to sign him, but they preferred to sign Lukaku because he was their first choice. So Inter pulled out. AC Milan and Roma are on the list but if he decides to earn less then they are likely to enter the race. But they haven't bothered signing him yet."
According to Di Marzio, a reliable transfer source for all things Serie A, there aren't many top clubs who are eyeing up Dybala. United may be the biggest side looking to sign the former Juventus star.
"He is on the list of other clubs like Sevilla, but the level of the clubs is not top and Dybala wanted to play in a top club. But the truth is that no top club in La Liga or in England say - okay, we want Paulo."
"Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG or Bayern Munich – the six biggest clubs in Europe had other plans. Liverpool have signed Nunez, Man City have signed Haaland, Bayern have signed Mane. Dybala was not at the top of their list."
"Now he's in a situation where he probably needs to change his mindset. He probably has to play in a weaker team and make less money because it's July and he has no club. He probably needs to change some ideas and the way he sees his future."
"He doesn't yet have a club willing to sign him for the €6m net a year he wanted. He wanted more, but now he's down to €6m net. So it's a strange case, an incredible case in this market that a player of Dybala's quality is without a contract and without a team."
"He probably thought he could earn 50% more without a contract, but he will earn 50% less. Because something has changed in the markets this summer. This is a revolution for the football market. It's a revolution because a player like Dybala would have signed for a club in February in other years."
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A bid has been submitted for Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez, while United have signed Feyenoord left-back Tyrell Malacia.
Marco Asensio of Real Madrid has emerged as a surprise target, but Erik ten Hag will have a budget of just £100 million to work with this summer.
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