The eight players who could still leave Manchester United this summer - including £80m signing

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
At least eight senior players could leave Old Trafford in the transfer window - we look at what could happen.

Manchester United have begun the promised process of clearing the changing room at Old Trafford already. Seven players, including Anthony Martial and Raphaël Varane, have been released on free transfers, and more of their former team-mates will follow them out of the door soon. This is going to be a summer of change at Old Trafford.

Eight members of the senior squad, at least, are up for sale with young fringe players like Facundo Pellistri and Omari Forson also on the brink too. We’ve taken a look at the bigger names who are likely to leave, what United will lose when they’re gone, and what they might gain instead.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Harry Maguire

Maguire improved drastically in the second half of the season, proving a great many pundits wrong and proving himself to be of the side’s more reliable defenders – but that hasn’t stopped there from being speculation that he’s still on the chopping block, not least because he has just one year left on his contract.

West Ham United were interested last summer and might take another look and there has even been a report from Italy suggesting he’d been offered to AC Milan, but at this stage it’s very unclear as to how likely he is to leave or how much they’d get for him. Given his performances last season, his staying wouldn’t be a disaster from a playing perspective, but this could be United’s last chance to recoup any of the £80m they spent to sign him from Leicester City five years ago.

Victor Lindelöf

Like Maguire, the Swedish centre-half has just one year left on his contract and is up for sale for the right price. Unlike Maguire, he doesn’t have a strong season in the rear view mirror to offer just cause to keep him. With United linked with a host of young and exciting centre-halves this summer, they will hope to offload Lindelöf if they can.

The problem is that there is, as it stands, no concrete interest in him. Rumours surrounding his possible departure have mostly suggested he could be packaged up in a swap deal of some sort, but given how rare such deals really are that has the feel of hearsay rather than solid reportage. There were reports that he turned down a move to Rennes last year, which suggests that he wants to stay at an established European powerhouse – all in all, there is every chance that he remains on the books for another year and runs down his deal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Aaron Wan-Bissaka

The final defender entering the last year of his deal who could well be offloaded. Wan-Bissaka has struggled to live up to his £50m price tag and United are shopping him around as well, with the player appearing to say farewell to the crowd during his more recent game at Old Trafford.

They know they won’t get their money back on this one but will accept rather less – some reports have suggested he may go for as little as £10m. United will likely try to push for £20m in order to help fund a move for a new right-back, perhaps Torino’s Raoul Bellanova. The problem is that, as with Lindelöf, there are no tangible reports about other clubs making enquiries – but we’d expect a team in the Premier League or elsewhere to have a passing interest at least.

Casemiro

Casemiro was a game-changer when he first arrived at the club – now he’s surplus to requirements after a desperately poor season. At 32 years old, he wouldn’t normally fetch a big transfer fee, but United could get a huge boost to their transfer fund thanks to the Saudi Pro League.

Reports have suggested that Al-Nassr could bid as much as £75m to sign the Brazilian midfielder, several times more than he’s worth and United would have expected. If that’s even close to the truth, the club can count themselves very lucky indeed as he would pay for a top-class replacement on his own – or at least offer up a solid down payment on João Neves.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Antony

Barring a remarkable turnaround, the Brazilian winger is set to go down as one of the biggest transfer flops in United’s history – so far, £86m has bought the club five league goals and three assists in two years, although it has also purchased several hundred stepovers to nowhere.

By all accounts, the club are desperate to cut their losses and move him on, but the only problem is that there has been absolutely no interest him at all so far despite the fact that his availability is public knowledge. Olise is the preferred target to replace him, but it isn’t clear yet that he’ll have left to be replaced – this one may run for a while, and United may be forced to accept a very low bid in order to get shot of him.

Mason Greenwood

Speaking of players United are desperate to see the back of… Greenwood spent last season on loan at Getafe and it is believed that clubs in Spain, Italy and Germany have all considered what would prove to be controversial bids for the former England international. It was even reported in the British press that two Premier League sides are exploring a bid.

Of all the deals that may be done this summer, this is the only one that is effectively guaranteed, although it isn’t yet clear how much money United will get for Greenwood. It won’t affect planning for the squad all that much, and the club are casting around for another striker regardless of what happens here.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Marcus Rashford

Would United really sell Rashford? For all his struggles this season, for all his wayward finishing and his apparent lack of discipline off the field, he remains one of United’s most lavishly talented players, a poster boy for the club and is only one year removed from a quite brilliant campaign. It would be brave, and quite possibly foolish, to sell him.

Another problem with selling him is that if they want to get top dollar for him – in other words, at least £80m – they would have to rely on a side not being unduly perturbed by his poor recent form. Paris Saint-Germain have been mentioned, as have Arsenal. One can only imagine how hard selling him to a rival could come back to bite them. This could develop into a lengthy and tense will-he, won’t-he saga.

Bruno Fernandes

Even United’s top brass probably don’t actually want to sell Fernandes, their best player, key creative nexus and arguably best goalscorer. Nobody else on the team has contributed as much to the cause this season, but United have supposedly said that anybody apart from Mainoo, Garnacho and Højlund is up for sale, and clearly Bayern Munich have taken them at their word.

Depending on who you believe, Bayern have either had a bid rebuffed, or are planning to make a bid, or are coming back for a second bid, or aren’t even interested in the first place, but this looks like a saga with legs. It would be both a coup for Bayern and a blow for United, and selling their most pivotal player during a transitional period would be quite mad – but it wouldn’t the club’s first rodeo, let’s face it.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice