According to the Sun via Spanish publication Sport, Manchester United have opened talks with Barcelona regarding the summer transfer of Nelson Semedo.
The right-back was in discussions with the Blaugrana over a new contract, but talks have since stalled which has led to the club to consider the star as ‘transferable’, as per Sport.
The Sun add that the Red Devils will have to battle with cross-town rivals Manchester City and Tottenham for the Portugal international’s signature.
Sport add that Semedo’s release clause stands at €100m (£88m), given that the La Liga champions now see the ace as ‘transferable’, we’d think that perhaps they’d accept a considerably lesser fee.
It’s added that Semedo is open to an exit as he isn’t Barcelona’s first-choice at right-back anymore.
The 26-year-old has contested La Masia graduate Sergi Roberto for this honour for most of his time at the Camp Nou.
Whilst Semedo has shown on occasion that he’s a quality player, the ace has struggled with injuries during his time at Barcelona and there’s the question of whether United need to strengthen in this area.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka has really flourished in his debut season at Old Trafford.
Whilst Semedo is perhaps better at attacking, he doesn’t have the same defensive abilities as AWB – something that should be key for at least one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s full-backs given United’s error-prone central defenders.
Semedo has featured at left-back on a handful of occasions during his time at Barcelona which could make the ace a suitable option to compete with Luke Shaw and Brandon Williams, as well as AWB.
Even though Semedo is now considered ‘transferable’, we think that United are perhaps in more need of urgent reinforcements at other areas of the pitch at this moment in time.