Man Utd consider aborting agreed Ederson transfer for ‘two reasons’ – Fabrizio Romano | OneFootball

Why Manchester United are still to finalise the signing of Atalanta midfielder Ederson despite agreeing personal terms with the player has been revealed by Fabrizio Romano.

With Casemiro leaving via free agency and Manuel Ugarte up for sale, Man Utd aim to provide Michael Carrick with two and potentially three new bodies in midfield.

Ahead of a return to the Champions League, United want those additions to be ready to make an instant impact.

Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson is the dream target of INEOS, while Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni is keenly admired too. Carrick, meanwhile, would reportedly love nothing more than to coach Sandro Tonali.

However, it had appeared the first midfielder through the door would be Atalanta’s three-cap Brazil international Ederson.

And while that may still be the case, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has outlined why a move could now be shelved.

United have agreed personal terms with Ederson and verbally offered €45m, which comes close to Atalanta’s €45m-€50m valuation range.

Ederson has given ‘total priority’ to signing for the Red Devils who in turn, have entered ‘advanced’ -albeit on a verbal basis – discussions with Atalanta.

But when reporting on YouTube, Romano explained why all of that work come come to nothing.

Why Man Utd could abandon Ederson transfer

“Let’s clarify something,” said the journalist on his channel. “There are two reasons, the first is Man Utd have to decide internally whether they want to proceed, to go and close the deal for Ederson, or whether they decide to go for different midfielders.

“Man Utd are still in that process of discussing internally, because they have several candidates for the midfield position, not only Ederson.

“So the Ederson deal is advanced with the player, for sure. They’re in conversations with Atalanta, for sure.

“Man Utd travelled with a delegation to Italy to discuss about Ederson and more for their transfer window, incomings, exits and more.

“So Man Utd have been busy in Italy, but at the moment it’s Man Utd who have to decide whether to proceed and close the deal or not.

“That’s why at the moment there’s no final green light. It could be any moment. Ederson is waiting for Man Utd.”

The second reason why this move isn’t progressing to the fianl stages right now is because Atalanta are making major changes to their structure.

Maurizio Sarri is arriving as the new manager, while a new sporting director will also be hired. Until those appointments are official, Atalanta won’t sign off on any deals, and certainly not one involving an important player like Ederson.

Regarding Man Utd, and generally speaking, clubs will decide they want to sign a player and then make their move. The opposite appears to be the case in this instance, with Man Utd ramping up a move before they’ll then decide if they actually want the player.

There is method to this madness, however, given Man Utd want multiple signings in midfield. It does make sense to put the pieces in place for deals like the one involving Ederson, which United can then act on if other, potentially sexier moves, come to nothing.

That certainly appears to be what’s transpiring with Anderson and Tchouameni. Manchester City are frontrunners for the Forest ace and have agreed personal terms with the 23-year-old. Real Madrid don’t want to sell Tchouameni and the Frenchman doesn’t want to leave anyway