After Manchester United suffered an 11th defeat of the Premier League campaign at the weekend when they lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace, the size of the task facing boss Rubem Amorim continues to become apparent.
The Red Devils sit 13th in the table and have endured another turbulent window, with Marcus Rashford having left the club on loan for Aston Villa after his relationship with Amorim broke down, while £86million signing Antony has joined Real Betis on loan.
Patrick Dorgu has been the only senior new arrival at Old Trafford, with the 20-year-old wing-back joining from Serie A side Lecce for an initial £25million, with the clock ticking when it comes to any more new arrivals.
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Manchester United had been linked with a move for Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel after the Frenchman initially turned down Tottenham Hotspur, but the 19-year-old now appears to have made a deadline day U-turn and looks set to join Ange Postecoglou’s side after all.
Other players linked with an Old Trafford move include Leon Bailey and Christopher Nkunku, but the trail looks to have gone quite there.
Another player to be linked with Amorim’s side is Juventus midfielder Douglas Luiz, with the Daily Mail reporting that the club have an interest in bringing the former Aston Villa star back to the Premier League, although an agreement with the Serie A side is ‘not close’.
Luis swapped Villa for Juve last summer in a £42million move, but has struggled to make an impact in Turin, turning out just 13 times in Serie A, with form and fitness meaning he has started just one game since October.
This is in stark contrast to his form last season at Villa when the 26-year-old was one of the most impressive central midfielders in the Premier League as he broke into the Brazilian national team, as well as being named in FourFourTwo's best 100 players in the world in 2023.
Luis would win Villa’s Players’ Player of the Season award in 2022/23 and would make more than 200 appearances for the Villans during his five years at the club, scoring 22 goals in the process.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, Luiz, who is valued at €45million by Transfermarkt, would be an excellent signing for Manchester United, but not a realistic one.
With four years left on his deal at Juventus, any move for the 26-year-old would not come cheap and with the Red Devils accounts creaking under the pressure of a stream of transfer duds and poor contract decisions, it’s hard to see how they could make any move work within their current Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) framework.
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