Man Utd exploring stunning move for £42m star after Tottenham sign Mathys Tel

Man Utd exploring stunning move for £42m star after Tottenham sign Mathys Tel

Although sources concur that a deal is fraught with difficulties, Manchester United is keen to sign a midfield player who was among the best in the Premier League when he was in England.

With tonight’s 11 p.m. deadline drawing near, Man Utd is in a tight spot if they want to make any last-minute additions.

The striker’s story is perhaps the most intriguing of the window thus far, as he has made a U-turn on the idea of joining Tottenham.

Spurs had agreed a €60m/£50m deal with Bayern Munich that crumbled once Tel rejected Spurs.

But just a few days later, Tottenham have returned with a straight loan offer that Bayern have accepted and they’ve also succeeded in convincing Tel to sign up.

That’s despite Man Utd recently seeing a straight loan bid of their own knocked back by Bayern. Tel was also heavily rumoured to favour joining Man Utd if he did leave Bayern, which strongly suggests Man Utd were simply in the right place at the wrong time.

The 19-year-old is now travelling to London to complete the deal, with the likes of Ben Jacobs, Fabrizio Romano, Florian Plettenberg and Fabrice Hawkins all confirming Spurs’ imminent coup.

Back at Old Trafford, the Red Devils have opted against signing cover at centre-back despite Lisandro Martinez suffering a potentially season-ending knee injury.

But according to Daily Mail reporter, Sami Mokbel, United are interested in adding a big-name midfielder to their ranks.

Taking to X, Mokbel reported: “Douglas Luiz anticipated return to the Premier League looking difficult. Manchester United have an interest but prospect of any agreement with Juventus not close.”

Luiz, 26, cost roughly £42m/€50m when moving to Juventus from Aston Villa last summer. The Brazilian has endured a difficult time in Turin so far, racking up just 656 minutes of action across all competitions.

Nonetheless, Luiz established himself as one of the Premier League’s finest central midfielders during his time at Villa Park. He was named Aston Villa Players’ Player of the season in 2022/23 and didn’t earn a £42m move to Juventus for nothing.

Manchester City – one of Luiz’s former clubs – had shown interest in bringing the midfielder back to The Etihad earlier this window.

However, City have instead wrapped up an agreement to sign Nico Gonzalez from FC Porto to the tune of around €60m instead.

But as Mokbel mentioned and as our own transfer insider, Fraser Fletcher, has verified, a move for Luiz is highly ambitious.

Sources tell us a loan would suit United, though they are reluctant to sanction a major permanent signing in the final hours of the window unless they truly believe it is in the club’s long-term interests