Manchester United to topple Napoli and PSG in their hunt for a centre-half

Manchester United could get a gem for pennies.

Transfer periods, especially summer transfer windows, have always had been an exhausting time of the year for Manchester United supporters. It is a time when their beloved club get linked with numerous identified and unidentified names all across the globe.

And they, understandably, spend the majority of the times hunting down each and every specific detail regarding a target, watching videos of last season’s performances on YouTube, analyzing their game, making notes, constructing an arguable yet powerful judgement on whether their apparent new signing would be a hit or flop.

This has now become a cycle — a cycle that helps fans understand the wider aspects of the beautiful game, and it is actually hard to see that cycle cease in the foreseeable future, particularly when you represent the Manchester United fanbase.

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Manchester United have finished third in Premier League this season, meaning they would play in the Champions League next season. And with the Mancunian club intending to oversee a mass exodus going forward in the ongoing summer transfer window, it is understood that a few new arrivals are imminent at the ‘Theater of Dreams’.

Defensively, under the guidance of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manchester United have had produced a solid showing, having let in 36 goals in 38 games — the third-best defensive record in the 2019-20 Premier League season behind Liverpool and Manchester City respectively.

But there is a shadow of doubt over their defensive traits, with the club seemingly lacking the quality strength in depth. If we cut the burdens, quite frankly saying, off the list, Manchester United currently have four decent centre-backs under their ranks in Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, and Axel Tuanzebe. Though, the latter has been dealing with a mysterious injury for God knows how long.

Talking about the aforementioned burdens, it is really hard to see the likes of Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, and Marcos Rojo pursuing their careers after falling out of favour with the manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

There are some suitors for them present in today’s market, and it can be predicted that we will see them depart from Old Trafford at some point this summer. It is all about how much money United could recoup from those sort of deals.

And should they manage to offload all their defensive crust, the interesting matter would be how they alter the area and spend the money gained from those deals. That being said, there is no shortage of options for the Manchester-based clubs, as reports suggest.

According to Sky Sports, Manchester United have been monitoring Lille OSC‘s 6ft 2in centre-back, Gabriel Magalhaes, for a while now. However, there is no shortage of potential suitors for Magalhaes as well, with Italian side SSC Napoli leading the race with the clubs like Paris Saint-Germain and Everton following them.

Talking about Magalhaes’ playing style, he is a left-footed ball-playing centre-back, who can play both in the left-sided and the right-sided centre-back position. Since joining the French club from Brazilian outfit Avai FC for £1.5m in 2017, the 22-year-old has made 52 appearances in total which include 24 of last season in French territory, having found the net only twice for the Ligue 1 club.

Magalhaes, who has a professional contract set at Lille until the end of the 2022-23 campaign, is reportedly available in this summer for around £20 million. Considering the mouth-watering price and Magalhaes’ eye-catching development as a centre-back over the recent years, it would be an absolute steal to get a player of his ilk for that stated amount.

dark. Next. Utd have made an offer for this Pep Guardiola target

Would you be happy should United sign Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille this summer?