Man United make Surprise £70m transfer decision as Zinedine Zidane pathway cleared -Report

Man United make Surprise £70m transfer decision as Zinedine Zidane pathway cleared -Report

Currently in the middle of their second international break of the year, Manchester United players are representing their nations all over the world.

This weekend’s lack of Premier League activity has led to a lot of conjecture about Old Trafford. Much of it revolves around Erik ten Hag’s future.

Under the Dutchman, United’s season has started disappointingly; after seven games, the team is ranked 14th in the Premier League.

Their most recent match resulted in a 0-0 tie with Aston Villa, extending the team’s winless streak to five games across all competitions.

Harry Maguire decision

According to reports, Manchester United decided to incur a significant loss on the transfer cost in order to cash in on defender Harry Maguire during the January transfer window.

In the summer of 2019, Maguire moved from Leicester City to United for a then-record-breaking £80 million.

The Daily Star claims that the club is now open to accepting a summer transfer fee of about £10 million. If that’s the case, they would lose about £70 million on the sale.

According to MEN Sport, Maguire has six months left on his Old Trafford deal. United must decide what to do with him.

Three alternatives are available to them: sell in January, lose him for free in the summer.

It seems that United are opting for the first option, which will at least, see them recoup a small amount of the outlay spent on the defender five-and-a-half years ago. There’s no doubt that Maguire could still perform in the Premier League and would be a good pick up for any mid-table/bottom half team, but the time for him to move on from United is probably right.

Zinedine Zidane update
United have been handed a potential boost should they still be interested in appointing Zinedine Zidane as a potential replacement for Erik ten Hag. Zidane is one of the names to be linked with the job at Old Trafford over the last few months amid speculation over Ten Hag’s future at the club.

One barrier may have been the potential availability of the France national team job. There has been some speculation over the future of Didier Deschamps with Zidane named as a potential replacement.

However, RMC have reported that Deschamps will remain in the role, with the idea of Zidane succeeding him and therefore his achievements being forgotten one of the reasons he will stay.

MEN Sport says: One of the reasons Ten Hag remained at United in the summer was because there wasn’t the right replacement available at the time. It seems that could again be one of the reasons he is still in situ at Old Trafford

Zidane has been out of work since leaving Real Madrid in 2021, it feels like if a move for the French legend could happen, it would have happened in the summer. The pull of the manager would have been huge in the summer transfer market.

That, of course, could be the same in January. If United do want to re-open the possibility then it’s good news that another option is off the table for the manager