Man Utd see £170m pair as attainable targets in search of third (or second) midfield signing | OneFootball

Manchester United have identified two Premier League midfielders as ‘attainable targets’ to move for whether they beat Tottenham to the signing of West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes or not.

The Red Devils have already agreed a £35m deal with Atalanta for Ederson, but the INEOS chiefs are targeting further midfield additions following the departure of Casemiro and with Manuel Ugarte also thought to be on the exit ramp.

Having been priced out of a deal for top target Elliot Anderson after Manchester City made a £120m offer for the Nottingham Forest midfielder, they’ve since turned their attention to Fernandes.

Real Madrid have been sniffing around the 21-year-old, while reports have claimed Tottenham have also held talks over a possible move, as Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Spurs want to sign Fernandes and Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali this summer.

Indeed, our friends at TEAMtalk revealed on Wednesday that Tottenham have made ‘significant progress’ in their attempts to sign Fernandes ahead of United.

TEAMtalk transfer insider Graeme Bailey added: ‘Sources have confirmed that discussions with both Fernandes‘ camp and West Ham have accelerated over the past few days, leaving Spurs increasingly confident that they can win the race for one of the Premier League’s most sought-after midfielders.

‘As a result, we can reveal that Tottenham are now readying an offer worth around £75million (€87m, $99m), a figure that would move them very close to West Ham’s initial £80million valuation of the 21-year-old.’

As per The Sun, ‘sources have doubted the seriousness of Spurs’ purported interest’ and ‘Real Madrid expect Fernandes to join Man Utd’.

And the report then claims that United could look to sign either Bournemouth’s Alex Scott or Brighton’s Carlos Baleba as a ‘third midfielder’ this summer.

Scott is thought to be valued at £70m by Bournemouth, while Brighton told United they wanted £100m for Baleba when the Red Devils made an approach for his services last summer, but it’s claimed they’re ‘viewed as attainable options’ by the INEOS chiefs.

A move for either ‘depends on whether United can shift Manuel Ugarte’, whom the club are ‘prepared to accept a small loss on’.

Man Utd given short shrift

TEAMtalk have subsequently revealed that ‘Scott remains firmly on United’s radar and that fresh enquiries have been made this week as the club continue to assess potential midfield additions’, possibly as an alternative to Fernandes, who they claim is now ‘very open to joining Spurs’ over United.

But new Cherries manager Marco Rose is adamant that he wants to keep Scott, while the club have told interested parties that the 22-year-old ‘is not available for transfer’.

The report adds: