Messi wants Barcelona to sign €102 million Real Madrid target, Real Madrid launch stunning bid for Cristiano Ronaldo replacement and more: Transfer Roundup, 22 May 2019

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified May 22, 2019 16:47 GMT

Messi has asked the Barcelona top brass to not be complacent

Manchester United make contact with Barcelona for Ivan Rakitic

In the wake of Ander Herrera's departure from Old Trafford, Manchester United are desperate to add some spine to their underperforming midfield and have now made contact with Barcelona over a potential deal for Croatian international Ivan Rakitic who is now 31-years-old.

The Cules have responded by quoting a price of £48 million for the central midfielder and should United match it, the deal will go through this summer without any other complications.

Manchester United's midfield desperately needs a facelift and with Paul Pogba's future continuing to remain uncertain, Solskjaer wants to find a stopgap solution. And Rakitic can certainly do more than be a temporary solution to the problem.

United's midfielders lack the creativity to break down resolute defences and they had struggled greatly as a result through the majority of the 2018-19 season.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

Know More

Edited by Sripad