Man United tend to drag out their transfer business in the hope that the selling team will eventually cave and accept a few million less for a player, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
Aston Villa star Jack Grealish has been linked with United on a regular basis since the summer, while he’s improved again this season and he does look like he could be a difference maker at the highest level.
The problem for United comes with the potential transfer fee if they do want to get him, but a report from ESPN has indicated that they would’ve saved as much as £50m if they acted early.
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They confirm that he signed a new long term deal with Villa and they don’t look like relegation candidates so there’s no desperate need to sell, so they want £90m to let him go or the deal won’t be happening.
That’s quite the contrast to last summer where it’s suggested that he could’ve gone for £40m if United had acted early, so this is the one example of where waiting around hasn’t happened.
Chelsea are the prime example of a team who went out and got some of their business done early – Timo Werner and Hamik Ziyech were signed before the season was over, so they got ahead of the competition and saved any complications later on.
United just don’t operate like that and perhaps they did save money by dragging out deals for the likes of Alex Telles and Bruno Fernandes, but it hasn’t paid off here.