Manchester United are determined to get rid of Marouane Fellaini, Shinji Kagawa, Nani and Anderson this summer, as Louis Van Gaal continues to the long overdue clearout operation.
Having sold Alex Buttner and Bebe for just over £6m and with Federico Macheda’s contract finally coming to an end, United are still left with a bloated squad, one which Van Gaal has deemed “broken” and “unbalanced” and different sources suggest the Dutchman will set about clearing the decks between now and the start of the season.
The first man to fall could be United’s fourth most expensive signing ever, Marouane Fellaini, who’s attracted interest from Napoli and while the prospect of joining the Serie A side is thought to be appealing for the Belgian, the former Everton man is also expected to weigh up his options before making a decision.
Most of today’s newspapers run the Fellaini story, which suggests the club has briefed a few senior journalists, and both the Guardian and the Mirror agree that while United would be happy to recoup only a fraction of the £27.5m David Moyes criminally shelled out for the Belgian, Napoli are thought to prefer a season-long deal.
Van Gaal, the reports claim, is “desperate” to offload the Belgian, who arrived on deadline day last year and pocketed £100,000-a-week throughout the season, despite only starting 12 Premier League games and failing to score a single goal, which perhaps explains why Napoli aren’t willing to sign the 26-year-old on a permanent deal.
Shinji Kagawa could also be on his way out of Old Trafford, after Van Gaal’s claims that United have too many players capable of playing in the number 10 role have left Japanese’s future clouded in doubts.
Since arriving from Borussia Dortmund two years ago, Kagawa has struggled to cement a place in the starting XI – partly, admittedly, due to being played almost constantly out of position – and he’s never come close to justify his £17m price-tag and with United interested in Mats Hummels, Kagawa could well be involved in a deal that sees him returning to his former club.
More complicated will be finding buyers for Nani and, in particular, for Anderson. The former remains on Juventus’ radar and could be sold for around £10m after enduring a horrible season, while the latter was his usual unimpressive self during a loan spell at Fiorentina in the second half of last season and managed just seven appearances in all competitions with La Viola.
Perhaps not surprisingly the Mirror claims that there are “no clubs” interested in the Brazilian. But, then again, why would there be?
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