One of the most talented defensive prospects in the game, a club who don’t want to let him go, and Barcelona and Manchester United both interested.
One of the most talented defensive prospects in the game, a club who don’t want to let him go, and Barcelona and Manchester United both interested.
What could possibly go wrong in this scenario?
If you hadn’t guessed already, the main protagonist in this wild tale is Paris Saint-Germain’s Marquinhos, who, despite showing a lot of patience by sitting on the Ligue 1 side’s bench for the past two seasons or so, wants to play first-team football.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi has big plans for the 23-year-old, but with David Luiz and Thiago Silva ahead of him, those plans are on the back burner as his game time is limited, meaning selling the prodigy might be the healthiest option for both parties.
Both Barcelona and Manchester United are after a good, solid, and, most importantly, young centre-back to partner Gerard Piqué and Chris Smalling, and both have set their sights on the Brazilian.
According to Le10 Sport, Barcelona are very keen to link him up with the Spain international, and have even made a €60m (£46.6m) official offer for him (even though the club’s sporting director stated earlier on Thursday they hadn’t talked to the French club or to the player), but Manchester United want him more.
Yep, the French magazine claim the Premier League side have sent over a €65m (£50.5m) bid for the former Roma starlet after José Mourinho put Marquinhos top of his list to bolster his defence, and could be willing to offer more if need be.
That’s a lot of money, but with an alleged €300m at his disposal to mould United to his desire, it’s affordable.
Now, that United are looking at him, we can understand, but that they would be willing to pay over £50m for him is quite a claim.
It’s worth bearing in mind that Chelsea were reported to have had a late €40m (£31m) attempt at signing the player last summer when Mourinho was in charge rejected, after their failures at persuading Everton to part with John Stones.
It would appear, if the claims are correct, that Mourinho clearly likes him…
