Manchester United have had a busy summer window, snapping up four new high profile faces and breaking the world transfer record in order to transform their under performing squad into a title challenging side once again.
Jose Mourinho now has a team more than capable of challenging for the league title, with the likes of Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly already making big contributions to the first XI and plenty is expected of Henrikh Mkhitaryan once he settles in.
However, the team is still slightly short in some areas, one being at right-back, where converted winger Antonio Valencia currently plugs the gap in the team. It is thought that Mourinho may look to address this potential weakness by adding the talent of Monaco right-back Fabinho to the team.
The Manchester Evening News have reported that Fabinho could be a ‘left-field’ signing for United on deadline day, and that the move would not come as a particular surprise.
Fabinho is an attacking full-back and scored six goals for Monaco last season. United have been admirers for some time, and the 22-year-old would certainly be an upgrade on Valencia, but the player has admitted he would be willing to remain at Monaco, with the Ligue 1 club having the benefit of playing Champions League football this season, which United cannot boast.
Still, this is definitely a move to watch on deadline day, and a bid of around £25 million could secure the deal.
However, if other activity at Old Trafford is anything to go by, a late move for Fabinho is unlikely after United turned down an offer from Inter Milan for current back up right-back Matteo Darmian.
Darmian enjoyed an impressive start to his Manchester United career after joining from Torino last summer, but soon faded into obscurity, and now finds himself way down the pecking order and severely lacking game time. The rejection of an offer from Inter could be an attempt from the Red Devils to push for a higher price, but it is more likely that they wish to keep the Italian in order to have a strong back-up for Valencia.
Darmian has the ability to be a very good Premier League defender, but his current situation is not ideal. If he stays at Old Trafford, Mourinho must give him encouragement to improve as a player. If he is not in the plans of the manager though, United may be tempted by a higher offer.
Finally, a player that Manchester United desperately want to leave, Bastian Schweinsteiger, looks as if he may be staying at the club after turning down the opportunity to join Sporting Lisbon.
Mourinho has made it clear that he does not consider the World Cup winning German as a part of his team, and wishes to offload the 32-year-old, who has struggled in the Premier League as injuries have caught up with him.
United were willing to let Schweinsteiger leave for free, and subsidise some of the German’s wages in Portugal, but it appears that the German still feels he has a career at United.
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