LUKE SHAW TO STAY AT MANCHESTER UNITED & MOURINHO CLOSING THE BOOK ON THE SUMMER TRANSFER

       

    Personal terms agreed. Sounds like a finalized contract that can not be broken but the truth is: Is really a contract that has been signed, sealed and delivered? That is the question that can still around in the minds of everyone involved with Manchester United organization and the two men, Ed Woodward and Jose Mourinho, who could shed some light in the situation still remain silent about the arrival of Brazilian left-back Alex Sandro from Juventus.

       As most Manchester United fans might be aware of by now, the possibility of Mateo Damian leaving Manchester United and seemingly making a return to Italy this summer will not arrive as an alarming news to anyone who has kept a close tab to Mateo Darmians career ever since joining Manchester United. The Italian full-back has struggled to establish himself as a starter for a reasonable amount of games under Mourinho’s managerial reign at Manchester United and reports coming out recently from Italian news sources strongly suggest Darmian will find himself leaving Old Trafford by the end of this summers transfer window. At the moment, Italian giants Juventus FC are in the forefront to land the Italian Right Back with Manchester United even offering to reduce the demanded prices originally stated by the Red Devils another to make this deal possible. But there is one catch to this deal, another for Juventus to finalize the move for Mateo Damian from Manchester United at such a reduced priced, Juventus will be expected to offer something other than money or in this case offer Manchester United a player in return. That is where Alex Sandro might come into play. After the finalized, shock, move by Juventus FC to seal the signature of one of the best players in modern football, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 100 million moves from Spanish side Real Madrid, had expectedly left a hole in FC Juventus financial budget. Yes, Ronaldo’s shirt sales helped fill in a considerable amount of space spent by Juventus in the Ronaldo saga but Juventus owner knew that a few players will need to be sold in other to balance the club budget comfortable. Manchester United is just one out of a few clubs which has profited from Ronaldo’s move to Turin and Manchester United's profit will be the acquisition of left-back Alex Sandro. Sandro’s move to Old Trafford is set to be finalized but as of yet, the move has been stalled because of the sudden interest shown by French champions PSG. Juventus is now, understandably waiting to see which of the two clubs in Manchester United and PSG will outbid each other for Alex Sandro’s signature.

   At the moment, as Manchester United is prepared to pave a clear path for Luke Shaw to depart from Old Trafford as soon as possible in the enormous, anticipation that Alex Sandro will be a certain replacement for the English man in the Left Back position next season, the Red Devils might want to hold off on sealing Alex Sandro’s signature until Luke Shaw has officially departed the club. If Manchester United end up bringing Alex Sandro over without making sure that Luke Shaw will be playing his football elsewhere next season, Mourinho will be left with too many left fullbacks and not enough game time for each player. At the moment, the rumor mill suggests that Luke Shaw is set to be playing his football for nowhere except for Manchester United next season.   The news continues to remain the same as the news  has always been in regards to Alex Sandro and the news is that Manchester United have agreed on terms with the Brazilian full-back to join the Red Devils next season but for the past few weeks, the news of any sought of new development reached between both parties continues to remain unchanged in the sense of “Have Alex Sandro actually signed the physical contract that makes him a certified Manchester United player and the answer is “Not at the moment”.   

Meanwhile, the news surrounding the English Left Back Luke Shaw is that Shaw is not accepting an exit from Old Trafford in any manner this summer. Luke Shaw has made his mind clear to anyone who will listen that he is determined to retain his place with Manchester United past this summers transfer window, improve his level of football next season and keeps his Manchester United career going past this summer.  So what exactly is Mourinho left with should Alex Sandro sign for the club with Luke Shaw and Matteo Darmian remaining in Manchester United next season? overpopulated fullbacks. At the moment, Manchester United have a total number of six fullbacks in the team in Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, Mateo Darmian, Diogo Dalot and the returning Timothy Fosu-Mensah from his season loan move to Premier League side Crystal Palace. With one glance, anyone can easily land to the conclusion that Manchester United already have enough strength in the fullback position to enable the team to make a strong run for the Premier League Trophy next season but upon further inspection, the evidence is starting to show that Manchester United might seriously need to invest on signing at least one more fullback this summer to improve the teams chance of winning a trophy next season. Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young are two players whom both at the current age of 33 years can not be expected to maintain the top level energy teams need from their full-backs in other to be successful. Mateo Darmian is expected to depart from Old Trafford within the next two weeks. The Italian full-back was confirmed to have sealed a move back to Italy with Italian side Napoli back in January but the deal was never completed. This summer is a totally different story with a number of Italian clubs, Juventus and SS Napoli in particular, all seriously chasing the services of Mateo Darmian for next season, Damian departure is almost %100 certain to happen this summer.

   Finally, with Darmian and Dailey Blind set to part ways with Manchester United this summer, Mourinho will have enough space in the team and enough capital to focus on completing the signing of Alex Sandro or will he? according to new reports published in the last two weeks, Alex Sandro seems to have had a change of heart and looks prepared to stay put with the Old Lady(Juventus nickname) for the near future. What changed? Christiano Ronaldo joined Juventus, that is what changed. The truth is that Cristiano Ronaldo is such an amazing player that any footballer would love to be his teammate knowing full well that with the addition of Ronaldo to any clubs roaster, said club, in this case, Juventus, is destined to be future Champions and Alex Sandro is simply choosing to stay with the club that now has a higher chance of success in the future. Where does this leave Mourinho i.e Manchester United? Sticking with Luke Shaw. Days after the news was released that Alex Sandro will be resigning with Juventus, Mourinho has quickly made a move of his own which made sure that Manchester United will not be left short of players in the Left Back position and the move was to reassign Luke Shaw with a new contract. That is correct. Mourinho has recently dropped a new two-year contract extension, at least, right on the lap of Manchester United current left back. At the moment, it appears that Jose Mourinho has weighed his options of either signing one last player in the last few weeks of the Transfer window or sticking with the players he has on his current roster for next season and all the evidence points to Mourinho closing the book on his transfer purchase this summer. Manchester United fans will not hear this but the reality is that Mourinho is a manager who loves to get his Transfer business done early and all indications point to the strong possibility that Mourinho is ready to close the book on his transfer activities this summer. Yes, Mourinho tried to sign players such as Alex Sandro, Toby Alderweild, Harry Mcguire, Gareth Bale and even Christiano Ronaldo. But Mourinho simply could not get these deals done because he can not afford the price tags these players come with because Mourinho did not have enough funds in his budget left over simple. Mourinho could still pull a miraculous victory and win a title with the players he has, the possibility remains because Mourinho is a manager who has been known to pull a victory from the seemingly impossible situation but the Premier League to get even more difficult with each passing season. For Mourinho to be victorious this season with the current players he has, Manchester United have to play strong, strategic, consistent football and be prepared to outclass Manchester City who has undoubtedly improved their team this summer.