Liverpool want a ‘Salah clone’ to replace Salah and Man United are ‘keeping tabs’ on the ‘Pogba of Barca’…
‘POGBA OF BARCA’
Manchester United are among a number of clubs ‘keeping tabs’ on Barcelona teenager Ilaix Moriba.
The 18-year-old midfielder has made seven appearances for the Barcelona first team, with one goal and two assists to his name.
“He’s physically very strong, but he’s also a very intelligent player,” former coach Denis Silva Puig told Bleacher Report. “Most people don’t appreciate this. Here he’s called the ‘Pogba of Barca’ because he’s like a young Pogba, but also he is very, very intelligent—and that is his big potential. He is a top player, no doubt.”
United have long been linked with another of Barcelona’s teenage sensations, Ansu Fati, with the La Liga giants ‘flatly refusing’ a €150million offer for the winger, but fancy their chances of luring Moriba to Old Trafford, according to Mundo Deportivo.
With Moriba’s buy-out clause set at £86million, United will likely have to wait until the end of his contract, set to expire in 2022, but his father, also his agent, has said that as things stands it is the player’s intention to remain at the Nou Camp.
United are not the only English side interested, with Chelsea also believed to be keeping tabs on Moriba, as well as RB Leipzig.
‘SALAH CLONE’
Amid the rumours of Mohamed Salah’s potential departure from Anfield this summer – after a glorious Champions League win perhaps? – Liverpool are reportedly after a clone of the Egyptian to play in his stead.
Who is Salah’s dobbleganger? Marco Asensio, of course.
El Gol Digital (via HITC) claim the Liverpool scouts see the 25-year-old winger as the perfect man to replace Salah, as he has ‘physical similarities’ and ‘the skills to be a regular goalscorer’.
The former Mallorca man has scored two goals in 16 La Liga starts this term and has made double figures in all competitions just once in a single season, in 2017-18.
The report claims Madrid would be willing to let Asensio go for €40million, with Paris Saint-Germain also said to be interested.
EMI ‘BLOCKBUSTER’
Despite Dean Henderson’s very decent displays for Manchester United, they continue to be linked with new goalkeepers.
Nick Pope is thought to be on their radar and a report from Football Insider claims they’re planning a ‘blockbuster’ move for Aston Villa stopper Emiliano Martinez.
Martinez – who moved from Arsenal in an £17million move last summer – has thrived at Villa Park and is a big reason why Dean Smith’s side still have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe next season.
And he is one of two senior goalkeepers United want to bring in at the end of the season in a ‘major overhaul’ in their goalkeeper ranks.
The report goes on to explain that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to keep Henderson, sell both David de Gea and Sergio Romero, and bring in goalkeepers to ‘provide cover and competition’.
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