Former Premier League midfielder turned pundit Ray Parlour has revealed his shock over the touted fee Man Utd could have to pay for Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
The Red Devils are in a difficult position this summer, as with a need to strengthen their squad, rival clubs could look to take advantage of that and put premium price-tags on potential targets.
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That is arguably the case with Crystal Palace defender Wan-Bissaka, with The Telegraph reporting that United have seen a £40m bid rejected by the Eagles, and it’s suggested that they may well have to pay as much as £60m to prise him away from Selhurst Park.
While there is no doubt over the quality that the 21-year-old possesses, that is a huge fee for a player who has not yet firmly established himself as a top-class player worthy of such an investment and so it would seem fair to say that is a massively inflated fee.
That’s Parlour’s opinion on it too, as he struggled to justify how much young players could now cost the top teams around Europe.
“It is madness, absolute madness,” he told talkSPORT, as quoted by This is Futbol. “I really like him, I think he’s an excellent player and I’ve seen him on quite a few occasions.
“His defending is very good and he gets forward. But for £65million, it’s crazy.
“Look at those Ajax youngsters, they’re only young. They’ve not really done anything yet. They’ve really shown that they can play in an Ajax shirt and have done really well in the Champions League but they’re going for £70-80million as well.”
It’s hard to disagree with him on Wan-Bissaka, albeit the Ajax players in question, namely Frenkie de Jong who will join Barcelona this summer for €75m+ as per BBC Sport, has proven his class in the Champions League against top opposition and with the Netherlands in the Nations League.
Further, winning the domestic double in the Netherlands isn’t an easy feat either and so there is some level of justification for his price-tag.
However, while Wan-Bissaka clearly has a big future ahead of him, he hasn’t yet achieved anything and so time will tell if Man Utd opt to splash out or look elsewhere.
