It’s about time Manchester United won the race for the most coveted player in Europe. After attempting, without success, to land Benzema, Villa, Nasri, Silva and Alexis Sanchez in the last few years, United seem to have fallen down the pecking order when it comes to players wanting to wear the red of Manchester. Perhaps it is just a question of budget, but either way, The Red Devils are well overdue a marquee signing that everyone else wants too. After the arguably failed signing of Dimitar Berbatov United fans are unlikely to see another big money acquisition unless the player in question is well under 25.
Step up Eden Hazard. Manchester United are usually very coy when it comes to naming their transfer targets but coach Rene Meulensteen has been quoted as saying that Sir Alex is particularly interested in the next big thing.
“The manager wanted to see (Eden) Hazard by himself. That’s a sign he thinks it’s an interesting player. We talked a lot about him,” Meulensteen told Voetbal International.
“For a club it’s important that you keep refreshing your squad.
“Hazard is a special talent, but it always takes a while. As (an) example, we followed David de Gea for a long time before we got him.”
The last comment leads soccersweep to believe that, despite Hazard being coveted by every man and his dog, Manchester United are quietly confident that they can win the race for last season’s Ligue 1 Player of the Year.
There has been a similar amount of speculation about United’s supposed interest in Benfica player Nicolas Gaitan but, whilst signing the Portuguese would represent something of a gamble (Gaitan failed to make any real impression over two legs against Chelsea in The Champions League), Hazard will undoubtedly ignite his next team and take them on to better things.
With the amount of interest in the player this deal is not going to be easy or quick. So United fans can expect another period of Wesley Sneijder-esque speculation. But the wait will be more than worth it if Fergie can pull off the transfer of this magician.
