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Manchester United are ramping up their interest in Fulham enforcer Sander Berge after a key meeting between INEOS and Michael Carrick, according to a new report.<\/p>\n
Third midfielder is needed<\/h5>\n
With two new signings already completed to bolster midfield, the Red Devils are not preparing to slow down there, given Kobbie Mainoo is the only option with a long-term future at the club. The departure of Casemiro as a free agent and Manuel Ugarte\u2019s serious injury have made a major revamp in the engine room the priority.<\/p>\n
A double raid on Premier League rivals \u2014 first striking a \u00a350 million deal with Chelsea for Andrey Santos, then triggering the \u00a335m release clause for Aston Villa maestro Youri Tielemans \u2014 has gone some way towards fixing this issue. But after sporting director Jason Wilcox held talks with Carrick over the plans for the summer, it was decided three midfielders needed to arrive to ensure the squad is ready for the challenge of fighting on four fronts next season.<\/p>\n
A third-placed finish means Champions League football will return to Old Trafford, while there is expectation for deeper runs in the domestic cup competitions, having crashed out at the first hurdle under Ruben Amorim last year. \u201cJason Wilcox has led that recruitment process, and after sitting down with Carrick, has identified the need for three central midfielders following Casemiro\u2019s departure at the end of his contract,\u201d TEAMtalk<\/em> reveals.<\/p>\n \u201cUnited had also planned to cash in on Manuel Ugarte this summer, but the Uruguay international suffered what is expected to be a season-ending knee injury during the World Cup, ensuring the club must now replace him regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n Heading into the summer window, Elliot Anderson was Manchester United\u2019s leading candidate to replace Casemiro, with Mateus Fernandes an alternative to the England international. There were also hopes of a bombshell move for Real Madrid superstar Aurelien Tchouameni.<\/p>\n Deals for all three proved outside of United\u2019s reach, however, forcing INEOS to pivot towards other targets, such as Santos and Tielemans. But Sander Berge was another under-the-radar name whom the recruitment team had identified as an option.<\/p>\n The 28-year-old midfielder arrived at Craven Cottage in the summer of 2024 after signing from Burnley for \u00a325 million. It is understood United had considered a move at this point, but opted to pursue Ugarte instead.<\/p>\n This has proven unwise, however, with the 25-year-old Uruguayan having struggled to adapt to the physicality of English football. Meanwhile, Berge has thrived in west London, emerging as one of the most underrated players in the Premier League.<\/p>\n TEAMtalk<\/em> claims United could be set to correct this mistake, with the Norway international \u201cemerging as a serious option\u201d for that third midfield slot. His performances for his country at the World Cup have only \u201cenhanced his growing reputation\u2026producing a series of commanding displays as Norway\u2019s midfield anchor\u201d.<\/p>\n Well-placed sources indicate United \u201cbelieve the Fulham midfielder could be signed for less than \u00a340million, making him one of the most attractive value-for-money options currently available\u201d when compared to other options like Carlos Baleba or Alex Scott.<\/p>\n With a midfield triumvirate of Mainoo, Santos and Tielemans, Carrick now has three outstanding technicians at his disposal. But the unit lacks a physical monster to balance it; an imposing defensive midfielder to act as the security guard for the defence.<\/p>\n Possessing a powerful 6\u20195\u2033 frame, Berge fits the bill perfectly, even if he is not the sexiest name linked to Old Trafford this summer. When combined with his underrated technique and excellent attitude, the \u201cbrilliant\u201d Norwegian is the type of signing data analytic teams love, but leaves fans scratching their heads.<\/p>\n However, given Berge turns 29 next season, with Tielemans in the same age bracket, it poses an obstacle as INEOS prefer to target players in the 22-26 range. But if Fulham are willing to accept a reasonable price for their star midfielder, United\u2019s hierarchy could make another exception.<\/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 are ramping up their interest in Fulham enforcer Sander Berge after a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17976","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\/17976","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=17976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A Serious Option<\/h5>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h5>\n
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