Man United now want to sign £67m ‘perfect Bruno Fernandes partner’ as Manuel Ugarte alternative

Man United now want to sign £67m ‘perfect Bruno Fernandes partner’ as Manuel Ugarte alternative

Manchester United are in the transfer market for a new defensive midfielder and they are evaluating their possible options.

Regarding a possible transfer, the Red Devils and Manuel Ugarte recently reached personal terms, but Paris Saint-Germain is being tough in its talks.

The former Sporting CP player is wanted by the French champions for at least £59 million, and they now appear unwilling to discuss a lower price.

Youssouf Fofana of Monaco has been brought up as a potential replacement in recent days, and O Jogo says that Morten Hjulmand is also being considered by the team. Hjulmand’s contract with Sporting features a £67 million release clause.

He was signed as a replacement for Ugarte last summer. Using the Hjulmand connection, Ugarte’s agent is applying pressure to PSG.

Hjulmand left Lecce to join Sporting during the summer. He participated in nearly all of the games from the list.

The 25-year-old had a passing accuracy of 87 percent with four duels won per game. He also registered two tackles and 5.1 recoveries on average for the Lisbon giants.

The midfielder could be signed for a lesser fee than his release clause, considering Sporting may need a big-money sale this summer to balance their books in future.

However, we believe the speculation could be agent-driven. Ugarte’s super-agent Jorge Mendes is probably trying to put pressure on PSG with the transfer link.

Les Parisiens are presently in talks to sign Benfica wonderkid Joao Neves. They may need to sell Ugarte to make space for the arrival of the highly-rated Portuguese.

The French champions are most likely to lower their demands if Neves makes the switch. Ugarte would be a much better signing for United compared to Hjulmand.

The 23-year-old completed 91 percent of his passes last term with an average of 3.9 tackles, 7.2 recoveries and 6.4 duels won. He would be perfect for the defensive midfield role