Watch: Fabrizio Romano drops latest news on Man Utd, De Jong & Antony
Manchester United’s signing of Brazilian star Casemiro could have big implications for their next moves in the transfer market, particularly their pursuit of Frenkie De Jong and Antony, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Casemiro, who has won five Champions League titles with Real Madrid, is a statement signing for United, who currently sit bottom of the Premier League after two games. The deal was announced by both clubs last night.
The deal follows the signings of Tyrell Malacia and Lisandro Martinez, as well as Christian Eriksen on a free transfer, and takes the club’s spending to approximately £130million this summer. But according to reports they’re not done yet, and have not quite given up on long-standing targets Antony of Ajax and De Jong of Barcelona.
The situation with De Jong remains the same. Barcelona accepted Manchester United’s bid weeks ago. However, there has been no movement with the Netherlands international is said to be reluctant to leave the Catalan club.
As for Antony, Ajax reportedly rejected a sizeable £67.6million bid from the Red Devils just yesterday.
So where do United stand now? Will Erik ten Hag get a reunion with two of his favourite former players?
“What does it [the Casemiro signing] mean for Man United?” began transfer specialist Romano.
“What happens for Frenkie and for Casemiro? Manchester United feel that Frenkie de Jong is not changing his mind. He’s not giving any signal of a change at the moment, so Man United still feel that for Frenkie de Jong, everything is in total standby.
“They don’t feel they are close to De Jong, or progressing, they feel that at the moment its total standby and Man United know that if something happens, Chelsea will be there. So more than difficult, for Frenkie de Jong, for Manchester United, because there is nothing going on between United and De Jong since July, and also because Chelsea will be in the list in case he changes his mind.
“Now they are focused on a new winger. They are focused on Antony. I’m told that the player wants a move. He’s really pushing for this move. This is why he was not training with the team on Friday, but just at the training ground, in the gym. Antony told Ajax, with his agents, that he wants the proposal to be discussed. Ajax said no to an €80million bid, Antony’s pushing for the two clubs to discuss.
“Man United, what are they doing? They are still there, they will try for Antony in case Ajax change their position, but at the same point they are keeping contacts with the agents of Cody Gakpo, a cheaper option.”
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