According to Fabrizio Romano, Marc Cucurella has given Manchester United the “green light” to pursue a deal for the Chelsea left-back.
Following Luke Shaw’s injury last week, the Red Devils are looking for a man to fill in for him. Shaw is an England international.
In order to stretch their budget to nearly its maximum, Manchester United has already signed Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, and Andre Onana. There are also rumors that they still want to sign a midfielder before the transfer deadline.
Yesterday, former CBS Sports reporter Ben Jacobs provided an update, alleging that the other three players on Manchester United’s shortlist are Lyon’s Nicolas Tagliafico, Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon, and Barcelona’s Marcos Alonso.
However, according to transfer specialist Romano, Man Utd “won’t negotiate” for the three at the moment because Erik ten Hag and his recruitment team are totally committed to finalizing a deal for Chelsea defender Cucurella.
Romano wrote in his Caught Offside column: “Things are progressing for Manchester United and Marc Cucurella. They have an agreement in principle on personal terms with the player. He’s given them the green light and so now they will focus on reaching an agreement with Chelsea as soon as possible, and won’t negotiate for other left-backs.
“At Man United they believe that Cucurella is a perfect opportunity. He’s a proven player, excellent in his position. Of course, he wasn’t lucky on his first season at Chelsea but what he did at Brighton and Getafe can’t be forgotten.
“So they believe this is good opportunity on loan deal. Cucurella has always been super professional even when he wasn’t playing, but Man United is big opportunity and so he already gave his green light.
“Next let’s discuss Harry Maguire because there are important updates on this story. Yesterday morning, West Ham communicated to Manchester United that they are leaving the race for Harry Maguire.
“Almost 10-12 days ago, West Ham had an agreement with Man United on a £30m deal for Maguire, but the deal collapsed because there was no agreement between United and the player on how to terminate the contract and to join West Ham.
“West Ham then decided to sign Konstantinos Mavropanos in defence, but even after that, in the last 48 hours, they asked again for Maguire in a potential loan deal. The answer from United was no, because to find another player in defence under those Financial Fair Play conditions, who would be at United’s level, was considered too complicated.
“So that’s why at the moment the message from Man United is that Maguire is not leaving the club in the final days of the window. This is the very clear message from the club, but also on the manager side, with Erik ten Hag considering that keeping Maguire instead of letting him go on loan, is the best option for United right now. For now, Maguire is staying, but of course the market is crazy so let’s keep an eye on this one until the end.
“One option for Manchester United was Benjamin Pavard, it was close but they never gave the green light because it depended on the situation with Maguire. Now Pavard is going to Inter, it can be described as ‘here we go’ because the agreement between Inter and Bayern is done, and the agreement between Inter and the player has been done since last week.
“Bayern are working to replace Pavard with Trevoh Chalobah and it looks a concrete option, so the green light has been given for Pavard to join Inter for €30m deal plus €2m add-ons.”