It is no secret – Manchester United are set for a busy summer.
The Red Devils, who finished the 2021-22 Premier League season in seventh, are arguably as poor as they’ve ever been.
Now under the guidance of new permanent boss Erik Ten Hag, the 20-time league winners will be desperate to get back to winning ways, but it won’t be easy and will certainly come at a great cost.
Understood to be targeting a whole host of new players, as we exclusively reported earlier this month, Ten Hag and his backroom staff are looking to sign six players across five different positions, including a new centre-back.
Although there has been a lot of speculation over the likes of Ajax’s Jurrien Timber and Villarreal’s Pau Torres, another player to emerge as a candidate to move to Old Trafford is Lille’s Sven Botman.
That’s according to a recent report from Italian outlet Tuttomercato Web, who claims the Dutch defender’s proposed £25m (€30m) move to AC Milan has stalled due to some uncertainty over the club’s new ownership and that has opened the door for the Red Devils to capitalise.
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Recent times have also seen Botman, 22, heavily linked with joining Eddie Howe’s Magpies.
Confirming the club’s attempts to sign the 22-year-old during the January transfer window, Toon executive Amanda Staveley, who spoke to The Athletic, said: “We had to encourage players – ‘we’ll be a safe place for you, we’ll deliver and grow’. Some desperately wanted to come to us, like Sven (Botman), who still does very much and has talked very openly about that…”
A winter move for the Netherlands international failed to materialise though, leaving him with no choice but to see out the 2021-22 season in Ligue 1 with Lille.
Fast forward six months and with the summer transfer window now upon us, it is looking increasingly more likely that the 22-year-old will find himself a new club, sooner rather than later, whether that be at AC Milan, Newcastle or Man United remains to be seen though.
Sven Botman to Man United or Newcastle United?
Lille’s number four is understood to want around £2.5m-per year in wages and with the financial clout both clubs have, it goes without saying that Botman is an affordable target for Man United and Newcastle.
Therefore, should the player’s move to AC Milan collapse completely, it is likely that the centre-back will have his pick of St James’ Park and Old Trafford.
Although historically, the Red Devils would have been the more attractive option for any player looking to propel their career, that is not the case nowadays.
The Toon, under the direction of talented English boss Howe, is a team on an upwards trajectory. The whole atmosphere in the northeast has been transformed and with the club almost certain to have ambitions to qualify for Europe, Botman may be better off joining a project already underway, as opposed to one that has so far only promised to deliver.