Man Utd transfer news: conflicting reports over Toby Alderweireld deal

It’s claimed that Spurs defender
Alderweireld is not a top target for Jose Mourinho

One-Minute Read

The Daily Star and The Sun are two of the papers convinced that
the tough-tackling Tottenham defender will soon be on his way to
Old Trafford. The Star goes so far as to claim that United gaffer
Jose Mourinho “is desperate to land the Tottenham ace”, and he
wants the deal wrapped up before the World Cup starts on
Thursday.

Apparently United “are in talks with Spurs over the
Belgium international” and negotiations are progressing slowly if
steadily, although a sticking point is Tottenham’s asking price of
more than £70m, which is about £20m too high for United.

But the Manchester Evening News has a different take on
the transfer, claiming that Alderweireld “isn’t a top transfer
target on Manchester United’s eight-man shortlist”.

While the club’s scouts did at one stage check out the
29-year-old blocker, the MEN said that they decided he isn’t what
Mourinho need to strengthen his back four and consequently they
“are looking at other options”. Such as? 

Varane and Boateng on Mourinho’s target
list

Well, according to the Manchester Evening News, the names on
Mourinho’s wishlist are Raphael Varane of Real Madrid, Bayern
Munich’s Jerome Boateng, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, Milan Skriniar
of Inter, Alessio Romagnoli of AC Milan, Jose Gimenez of Atletico
Madrid and Freiburg’s Caglar Soyuncu (although he has been strongly
linked to Arsenal recently). 

Whoever United do end up signing, the MEN says that there
will definitely be one centre-back leaving the club in the coming
weeks with Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Victor Lindelof and Marcos
Rojo all possible departures.

United in pole position for
Pickford

Meanwhile
what about the man behind the back four? According to the Daily Express United “are in pole position to
sign Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford”.

That must mean Real Madrid have finally managed to lure David de
Gea from Old Trafford after years of laying the groundwork, and the
Express believes that United have already identified the England
gloveman as the man to take over from the Spaniard between the
sticks.