The Express stirs the pot of speculation today by linking Manchester United with Belgium and Wolfsburg winger Kevin de Bruyne:
Agent: Man Utd must fork out AT LEAST £21m to land Chelsea flop Kevin De Bruyne
“This could be his last season at Wolfsburg,” Patrick De Koster told Europa Calcio.
“His value is higher than €30m (£21m), but you can’t take anything for granted in football.”
De Bruyne, 23, has had a remarkable season in Germany with 24 assists and 14 goals in just 38 appearances for the club. It’s fair to say that he has been one of the stand out performers in the Bundesliga this term.
So would Manchester United be interested? Well, he’s a hard working, direct and precise player who could fit well into the narrower winger role that a 4-3-3 requires. It seems that Louis van Gaal will stick with this formation after having such success with it at Manchester United.
But, while we believe that a wide man will be recruited by Louis, we think that Manchester United may go for a speed demon this summer. De Bruyne, for all his virtues, isn’t blessed with devastating pace and it’s a quality that the current Manchester United squad lacks in general.
The manager will be well aware of this and it’s another reason why he may be more tempted to go for the likes of Gareth Bale or Memphis Depay. Both of these guys can count pace amongst their best assets and this may tip the balance in terms of Manchester United investment this summer.
FINAL WORD: It’s a deal that is within the realms of possibility but De Bruyne won’t be Manchester United’s first choice.
