Man Utd ‘turn to’ PL striker as ‘talks stall’; £15m star must ‘sacrifice huge money’ to seal transfer | OneFootball

According to reports, Manchester United have opted to ‘turn to’ Crystal Palace star Jean-Philippe Mateta as ‘talks’ over a ‘new deal’ have ‘stalled’.

In the summer, Man Utd focused on overhauling their attack and they did a pretty good job of handling this rebuild.

Ruben Amorim‘s side offloaded most of their dead wood, while they invested over £200m to sign Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.

Mbeumo and Cunha, especially, have improved Man Utd’s attack, but there is a significant drop off in quality when either of these players are unavailable, so they could do with strengthening further in January and/or next summer.

And a report from Football Insider claims that they have opted to ‘turn to’ Mateta, whose future at Crystal Palace is uncertain.

The 28-year-old has been sporadically linked with Man Utd in recent months and he has seven goals in his 18 Premier League appearances this term.

The forward is only under contract until 2027, so Palace are running out of time to cash in on him if he does not sign a new deal and the report claims ‘talks have stalled’.

This is said to have caught Man Utd’s attention as they have ‘turned to’ him ahead of January. The report claims: ‘Manchester United have turned their attention to a January move for Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, sources have told Football Insider.

‘United are long-term admirers of the France international and they are keeping close tabs on his situation at Selhurst Park as they weigh up a January offer.’

Man Utd are also said to be in the market for a centre-midfielder or two and could bring £15m-rated Ruben Neves back to the Premier League.

Another report from Football Insider says Neves would need to ‘sacrifice huge money’ to seal a move back to the Premier League, with football finance expert Stefan Borson explaining his situation.

“I mean, on the face of it, it’s very expensive. But for the player to leave now and come to England would be sacrificing a huge amount of money from a tax perspective, I would think,” Borson told Football Insider.

“It may well be that the player has decided that he doesn’t particularly care about the cash side of things, so he’s happy to fit in.

“I think in any event, if he was on very big money, United simply wouldn’t do it under this new regime of trying to put some restraint into their wage bill. They have to do that. They’ve got no Champions League.”

He added: “All the players have got let’s say a 20 per cent reduction on not being in the Champions League, and so by its very nature, their average wage bill right now could be £200,000.

“If they’re getting the Champions League, the average maybe goes to £250k. Is Neves really going to fit in at £200k? I don’t know. It seems unlikely given that he’s probably been on closer to £500k a week in Saudi Arabia.

“I suspect it’s just more about him wanting a footballing move ahead of the World Cup maybe. But likewise, it would not surprise me if no deal happened at all and he makes the decision later.”