As reported by The Daily Mail, Ed Woodward was in Spain tonight watching the Spanish Super Cup final second leg between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao.
It is believed that the United chief exec flew to Barcelona to set the wheels in motion for Pedro’s long mooted move to Old Trafford after reports that both Man City and Chelsea were keen to get deals done themselves.
But whilst Pedro was top of Woodward’s agenda, there was another player that the Manchester man was casting his eye over.
With Sergio Ramos signing a new deal at Real Madrid and Nicolas Otamendi on the cusp of joining rivals Man City, Manchester United’s hunt for a new centre-back seems to have hit a wall.
United have been forced to play Daley Blind at the back alongside Chris Smalling with Marcos Rojo lacking fitness and Phil Jones injured, and it is widely believed that United will need a new defender in order to do anything significant both domestically or in Europe.
United will now reignite their interest in Athletic Bilbao youngster Aymeric Laporte according to The Daily Mail.
United had been looking at the french defender previously but he signed a new deal in June that saw his buyout clause rise to £36.5m, an astronomical fee for the 21 year old.
Ian Ladyman writes:
United do not have a central defender high on their list of priorities despite the fact that early summer target Sergio Ramos committed himself to a new deal at Real Madrid today. However Laporte is highly rated and United continue to have an interest in the 20-year-old, despite a buy-out clause of £36.5m that was inserted in to a new contract in June.
Absolutely no chance. Bilbao work too hard to find and bring through young Basque players and Laporte is a rare gem that they would be unable to replace with any defender in the world. If Utd were serious they should have started negotiations as soon as the window opened. We saw how long it took them to prise Herrera away.
Also, Woodward is the Chief Executive and not a scout so wouldn’t be at the game to watch players. His job is to negotiate fees so he’s likely spent the game in a back room trying to get the best price for Pedro.
He has been linked with a move to United before so I’m pretty sure United have extensive knowledge on the player AND… He has a release clause that if met would mean United can speak to him.
Embarrassing United. Marquee signings my ass.
We have a shitty team. Poor poor defense and only Rooney on top, but in really bad shape like Rojo. How can that be??
Great to sign an inquired over the hill German.
Bilbao don’t sell unless you meet the release clause with all their players. If you think he is a great player worth of 36m pounds then go for him.
Man United need to centre defenders they should have gone for stone and otamendi the also need a top class centre forward van gaal said yesterday that he has Wilson and Hernandez my god that is absolutely brilliant would these two players get on any other top team
We have learnt in the past that negotiating a deal with Atletico is not as straight as it seems. However, the club has a well known profile – meet our players buyout clause and he is yours – it would be a huge bonus though if Laporte, does a Ander Herrera, by telling the owner he wants to join United!
“Cast his eye over”…. when did Woodward become a scout?! This is yet more tabloid filling rubbish.