1) Min-Jae Kim
One of the areas where Manchester United will be looking to improve is central defense. As talented as Martinez and Raphael Varane are, Maguire and Victor Lindelof may be disgruntled with backup roles or of insufficient quality, while Luke Shaw has shone in the center but is needed at left-back.
Manchester City has demonstrated that Tony Pulis was a visionary: the more center-backs a team can have, the better. It is a good path to take, and Manchester United want Kim Min-Jae to assist them in dealing with their assault on as many fronts as feasible.
Napoli would be reluctant to lose their center-back, but a €50 million release clause makes them vulnerable to the usual vultures when it becomes active in the first 15 days of the window.
2) Porto’s Diogo Costa
For those who believe Costa dismissing Manchester United links with a “that’s the internet” was the end of any potential move, it was a curious line to use in the same week Karim Benzema blamed talk of him leaving Real Madrid for Saudi Arabia on “the internet,” before deciding to leave Real Madrid for Saudi Arabia.
Man United may be put off by the expense as much as anything else. After 12 years, eggs are still being thrown in David de Gea’s basket, and even though the Spaniard continues to drop and crack them, Ten Hag is in too deep to start invoking £65m release clauses.
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The manager has stated publicly that De Gea is his man. That may not be Ten Hag’s personal perspective, but it surely does not account for the many thousands of supporters who have grown tired of blaming their goalkeeper for every surrendered goal. More pressing squad changes, though, may sway Manchester United away from a potential upgrade, keeping Costa on the bench for at least another year.
3) Pau Torres
In another reality, Manchester United listened to their recruitment staff, overruled Erik Ten Hag, and signed Torres rather than Lisandro Martinez. Another chaos timeline has the Spurs bowing to Antonio Conte’s wishes and sending the center half on a silver platter rather than Clement Lenglet in some type of borrowed receptacle.
However, in this reality, the Villarreal center-back’s alternatives are severely limited, even if a reunion with Unai Emery at Aston Villa would be a more acceptable first permanent move from his boyhood club.
A €50m release clause makes any deal potentially easier, but with Torres entering the final year of his contract in Spain, Villa will strive for a bargain, knowing that the 26-year-old’s value is limited.
