According to the Sun, Manchester United are casting a close eye over Real Madrid star Federico Valverde, with the club’s scouts diving deeper with their looks at the midfielder’s game this season.
The Sun report that Valverde is on the Old Trafford outfit’s shortlist as a potential replacement for Paul Pogba, who may well leave this summer and has previously called a move to Los Blancos a ‘dream’.
It’s claimed that Valverde’s versatility is massively appealing to the Red Devils, as the Uruguayan can be deployed in a traditional central midfield role, a defensive-focused one or even as an attack-minded ace.
The Sun add that the 22-year-old carries a release clause of £148m, whilst the midfielder currently earns £120,000-a-week. With his recent development, he’s surely in line for a raise sometime soon.
The report unsurprisingly states that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side would not be willing to pay a figure remotely close to £148m, but that they would offer the midfielder an increase in wages.
Valverde’s rightfully high release clause and uncertainty over Pogba’s future leaves the Sun to tentatively mention a possible swap deal, but we’d see the arranging of a deal like that as highly unlikely.
Valverde arrived in the Spanish capital in the summer of 2016 from homeland powerhouses Penarol – the club that United recently signed Facundo Pellistri from.
The central midfielder tasted first-team football with Deportivo la Coruna in the 17/18 season and quickly established himself as a promising player for Madrid when he returned, with 25 appearances in 18/19.
Valverde, who is a box-to-box midfielder that’s full of energy, became a regular starter as Zinedine Zidane’s side won La Liga last season, but has seen the last couple of months troubled.
The ace is currently sidelined with a thigh injury, leaving him to miss five games so far, whilst he was also out of action for six games due to a blow to his shin earlier this season.
Those issues have left Valverde to be used primarily as a bit-part substitute as of late.
WENEED F.VALVARDE at madrid