Man Utd warned they should only swap Paul Pogba for Matthijs de Ligt on one condition - 7M sport

Man Utd warned they should only swap Paul Pogba for Matthijs de Ligt on one condition



Posted Thursday, April 02, 2020 by Express.co.uk

Man Utd warned they should only swap Paul Pogba for Matthijs de Ligt on one condition
Man Utd transfer news: Moreno has warned United over swapping Paul Pogba for Matthijs de Ligt (Image: GETTY/ESPN)

Manchester United are reportedly said to be keen on swapping Paul Pogba for Juventus centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.

Manchester United should only swap Paul Pogba for Matthijs de Ligt if they have a replacement midfielder lined up, says ESPN FC pundit Alejandro Moreno. United are reportedly ready to offer Pogba to Juventus in a deal that would see De Ligt head in the opposite direction to Old Trafford. Juve are keen on re-signing Pogba, four years after selling him for a then world-record fee of £89million.

De Ligt has not settled at Juventus as well as he and the club would have wanted following his £67.5m arrival from Ajax last summer.

Moreno believes the Holland international would undoubtedly strengthen United's back line.

But he believes, despite the arrival of Bruno Fernandes in January, the Red Devils would still have to have a like-for-like replacement for Pogba if he were to leave.

Moreno said: "Well that's assuming that you actually have a player in mind and player in place that is going to take that position in the middle of midfield for Manchester United because, well, De Ligt yeah would solve a problem in the backline alongside [Harry] Maguire but then you still have a Pogba-sized hole in that middle of midfield.

"You have Bruno Fernandes who has done a wonderful job but you also have to then address that situation.

"If there's no Pogba, if there's no box-to-box midfielder, who is that guy going to be?

"So if you have that player in mind and you have a plan in place in order to acquire that player, then so be it.

"But until then, you have to resolve what the Pogba issue means to you long term.

"So if you just want to get rid of the guy, yeah sure get value in return in Matthijs de Ligt.

"But you also have to address what you're doing in the middle of midfield."

United were interested in signing De Ligt before he chose to join Juventus.

There were rumours circulating as to why United did not sign the centre-back but he has since ridiculed some of those.

“A lot has been said and written and it seemed that I made a decision overnight, but of course that wasn't the case,” De Ligt told Voetbal International.

“It was very annoying that so much was speculated. I tried to shut myself off, although with all those social media that is never entirely possible

“I have been laughing at such messages for a long time, but it also makes you tired at some point.

“There was something every day. Suddenly even my father was too fat, which is why a club [United] would not want me.

“Then you think ‘Come on man…’. At some point it gets annoying.”



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