Since taking charge at Old Trafford in May, Erik Ten Hag has immediately implemented a wide-ranging reshuffle. More than 200 million pounds has been spent by this strategist to bring in “hard players” in the summer, of which more than half come from the “Netherlands – Ajax” axis.
Ten Hag wants to bring in at least one striker in January.
However, the upheaval again came when Cristiano Ronaldo publicly criticized the club in November. That forced Ten Hag to be strong and the two sides decided to “go their separate ways” before the World Cup kicked off.
The absence of Ronaldo makes Man Utd’s plans slightly changed. Initially, Ronaldo could let CR7 play in cup matches. Now that Ronaldo leaves, the burden will fall on Anthony Marital, who has previously been susceptible to injury. This is the reason why Man Utd is so eager to find new recruits in January.
Many candidates, from expensive to affordable, are mentioned by the press. These can be mentioned as Dusan Vlahovic, the killer in Serie A last season, or Memphis Depay, an old man of Old Trafford. However, up to this point, Joao Felix is the most suitable person for Man Utd.
Felix himself had irreparable disagreements with coach Diego Simeone. Recently, newspaper Relevo revealed that Jorge Mendes and Atletico Madrid CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin had dinner at Aarde, a famous restaurant in Madrid. In those 45 minutes, the content of the meeting revolved around Felix’s future. The Portuguese striker has only started once for Atletico since September and was kicked out of the team’s plans by Simeone.
At this time, selling Felix in January is an impossible task for Marin, because he is priced too high. Because of this, Atletico asked Felix to leave on loan. And indeed, Man Utd and Felix have certain things in common to ‘love’ at least in the second half of the season.
Felix is counting the days of leaving Atletico Madrid.
Firstly, Felix’s loan fee is proposed at 13 million pounds, with the condition that the club using Felix will have to pay Felix’s full salary until June (about 5 million pounds). At first glance this is an expensive proposition. However, it is much safer than buying Felix outright. If the Portuguese player is a “bomb”, Man Utd can completely return him to the host club when the football season ends. Felix’s arrival does not affect the club’s spending plan too much. It also did not make the team appear a crisis of excess personnel.
Secondly, Felix is a versatile player, rich in energy and good at putting pressure on defenders. This is a reasonable fire fighting plan for Ten Hag in January. Because at this moment, it is almost impossible for the BLD to grant him another 100 million euros to buy quality strikers like Vlahovic.
Summary, Felix from the perspective of price and contract time are both worth trying for Man Utd. Maybe they will discover another successful signature from Portugal, according to Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes.
Crouching Dragon | 20:30 January 6, 2023
