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Manchester United\u2019s midfield rebuild has taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks after a storming start to the summer window saw a \u00a339 million deal struck with Atalanta for Brazilian midfielder Ederson. <\/p>\n
The club\u2019s primary targets \u2013 Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes \u2013 both sealed moves to direct rivals last week, with Manchester City signing the former and Tottenham Hotspur hijacking United\u2019s pursuit of the latter. Both constituted club-record transfers, in excess of what INEOS were willing to pay. <\/p>\n
This has forced Old Trafford chiefs to plot a new course, pivoting towards alternatives on their list, such as Bournemouth maestro Alex Scott and Chelsea dynamo Andrey Santos. However, a move for one may impact the other, as a well-placed source at Stamford Bridge reveals. <\/p>\n
Scott, 22, has emerged as one of the most well-rounded midfielders in the Premier League after a superb season on the south coast. <\/p>\n
| Matches played<\/th>\n | Goals<\/th>\n | Assists<\/th>\n | Mins played<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 39<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n | 3062<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n Source: transfermarkt.com <\/p>\n Having joined Bournemouth from Bristol City for \u00a325 million in 2023, he took some time to acclimatise to the jump in quality. But under the watchful eye of Andoni Iraola, the England under-21 international has gone from strength to strength, adding more physicality and better defensive output to his already outstanding technical attributes. <\/p>\n Following a match-winning performance over title-winners Arsenal in April, the Spanish tactician showered his midfielder with praise: \u201cHe has played for us as a No 10, a No 8; today as a No 6 and he has added a lot of defensive work and a lot of duel-winning to the ability he has on the ball. I\u2019m very happy, because he is becoming a very, very complete player.\u201d<\/p>\n Bournemouth are keen to lock Scott down on a new contract, having made multiple extension offers already. However, the Cherries are adamant he is not for sale, regardless of whether he puts pen to paper on a new deal. <\/p>\n Whether this is a negotiating tactic to extract maximum value remains to be seen, given United are understood to be \u201cincreasingly optimistic\u201d a deal is still there to be made. While the Red Devils consider Scott their new \u2018main target\u2019, they are not alone in their admiration of the Guernsey native, with Arsenal having already made a formal enquiry. <\/p>\n Simon Phillips, an excellent source for Chelsea information, reveals the Blues have also \u201creally liked Scott for a while now and have been scouting him all season.\u201d While there is acceptance in west London that Bournemouth\u2019s stance on an exit is resolute, Phillips states his information is Chelsea will try and strike a deal. <\/p>\n Scott in, Santos Out<\/h5>\nIn order to fund this pursuit, Santos \u2013 a target Manchester United made contact with last week \u2013 may be sacrificed. Phillips claims sources have indicated Scott could \u201creplace\u201d the Brazilian, with Chelsea open to his departure if a suitable offer arrives. <\/p>\n United were interested in Santos last summer, having explored a deal when the two clubs were negotiating Alejandro Garnacho\u2019s \u00a340 million switch to Stamford Bridge. At that point, the Blues refused to entertain the possibility. <\/p>\n But, twelve months on, the 22-year-old is keen for more first-team opportunities, having struggled to break through ahead of the midfield pairing of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez. If the opportunity to arrive at Old Trafford presents itself, he is said to be very keen on the move.<\/p>\n Chelsea will not stand in his way, provided their asking price \u2013 understood to be around \u00a350m \u2013 is met. While this is much cheaper than United\u2019s other targets, it raises the possibility that by targeting Santos, and bolstering his club\u2019s budget as a result, United could risk missing out on yet another priority target in Scott. <\/p>\n Adding another layer of complexity is Chelsea\u2019s plan to sign Crystal Palace playmaker Adam Wharton in the event that Fernandez is sold. Real Madrid are believed to be targeting the Argentina international, though a \u00a3120m valuation is prohibitive for the Spanish giants. <\/p>\n If Madrid want to raise the funds to match it, they may be forced to consider the sale of Aurelien Tchouameni, who is a dream target for Old Trafford. But the France international has also been linked with Chelsea, owing to Xabi Alonso\u2019s pre-existing relationship after their time together at the Santiago Bernabeu. <\/p>\n The midfield carousel is in full swing this summer, with virtually every top club in England jostling for a finite number of options. The unfortunate truth is the Red Devils risk being priced out of deals for each one of their top targets, which explains the early move for a B-list option in Ederson. <\/p>\n Final Thoughts<\/h5>\nDescribed as an \u201cabsolute diamond\u201d by a former coach, Manchester United\u2019s interest in Scott is justified. In many ways, he may be an even better option than Fernandes, whom Tottenham Hotspur paid over the odds to steal from United\u2019s clutches. But there is doubt over his compatibility with Kobbie Mainoo, given they share many of the same strengths and, on the flip side, weaknesses. <\/p>\n Santos may be a more suitable partner to Mainoo, though his quality does not match Scott\u2019s, hence Chelsea\u2019s interest in the upgrade. It is a difficult decision for INEOS to consider, even if Bournemouth\u2019s position is that neither club will be getting their hands on their prized asset this summer.<\/p>\n Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n The Peoples Person has been one of the world\u2019s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Manchester United\u2019s midfield rebuild has taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |