Canal Sports left everyone checking their twitter feeds more than usual after it was claimed that Manchester United have stolen the march to sign French International star Blaise Matuidi. According to the trusted journal Get French Football, Matuidi was supposed to fly in to Manchester last night and complete his transfer to Old Trafford.
As vague as it sounded at the time, those rumours have not died today either. According to Canal Sports journalist Pierre Menes, United are very much interested in signing Matuidi however, Bayern Munich have thrown their hat in this transfer race as well.
Despite Bayern’s intervention, Man United are still the favorites to land Matuidi because of Mino Raiola’s influence. The Super agent has already completed transfers for two of his clients (Ibrahimovic & Mkhitaryan) and is keen to bring Matuidi to Premier League as well.
Earlier today, Jose Mourinho wrapped up his first press conference as a Manchester United manager which was precise and aggressive. He hinted at the club chasing four priority signings this summer and that three of them have already arrived at Old Trafford and fourth player is to be signed shortly.
Adding to that he also confirmed that he is looking at specialist signings instead of multi-talented squad players. That is where Matuidi seems to fit the description of a box-to-box midfield player which United have been craving for in recent years.
French International loves to run throughout the 90 minutes and has the ability to play a high-pressing game right till the very end. While he loves to bomb forward, his defensive work rate is extremely high as well and he also has a very good injury record.
Matuidi certainly ticks all the right boxes to be a Mourinho signing at Man United this summer and for once The Red Devils can actually think of beating Bayern Munich to sign one of the priority targets.
In recent past, we have seen the likes of Toni Kroos, Douglas Costa, Thomas Muller, Robert Lewandowski, Arjen Robben, Arturo Vidal, Mats Hummels and lately Renato Sanches opt for Bayern Munich over Manchester United when it came to picking their preferred clubs.
This time though with Mourinho’s shrewdness and Raiola’s growing presence, United can actually think of winning a transfer battle against Bayern and sign Matuidi in coming weeks. The 29-year-old will make a decision on his future following an end to his Euro 2016 journey where France will play Germany in the semi-final later this week.