We are a little dubious about this one. Manchester United may or may not sign a big name centre back this summer. While the defence was in tatters for half of the season they improved drastically in 2015 and we think that a centre back playing roster of Jones, Smalling, McNair and Rojo would be pretty tasty.
But rumours persist of a big move and Nicolas Otamendi is the name most regularly linked with Manchester United right now. His agent has stoked the fires on a move, with The Guardian reporting:
“Nicolás told Salvo to his face that he wanted to leave Valencia in the summer,” Lopez told the Spanish radio station Cadena SER. “Nicolás is happy at Valencia and with the fans but he’s got an option to improve on a professional level.
“Nico is going to do everything [possible] to leave. There are a lot of conversations with clubs that want Otamendi. Nicolás loves everything at Valencia but, if the chance arose to leave, he’d do everything possible to make it happen.”
Now here is the crazy bit. The same source reckons that the player has a buy out clause of 60m Euro! This, lest we forget, is a 27 year old who couldn’t get into the squad for Argentina at The World Cup in Brazil 2014. He’s got 19 caps for Argentina but isn’t regarded as a regular, like Manchester United star Marcos Rojo.
We have said already that this deal would be very expensive and not necessarily that fruitful. We would spend the money elsewhere and let the excellent Marcos Rojo develop into a top talent at centre back.
Please sign me!
Otamendi has only played 38 times for Valencia since moving there last summer from Porto. But he has scored an eye-catching 6 goals in that time and is known for his presence at set pieces.
Let’s take a look at the lad in action. Manchester United fans: worth £43m or would you rather spend the cash elsewhere in the squad?
