Manchester United have been linked with four of the most valuable players whose contracts are expiring this summer.
The Red Devils are known to be keen to enhance their squad, but the club is up for sale and has financial problems which means there is little or no cash available to spend on transfers.
However, that may not be an issue if they can pick up players on a free in the summer or for a bargain basement price this month.
Despite transfer guru Fabrizio Romano claiming United’s January business is over, Erik ten Hag stated at a recent press conference that he is looking to bring in more players.
💰 The most valuable players with an expiring contract in 2023:
🇸🇰 Skriniar: 60M
🇦🇷 Messi: 50M
🇧🇪 Tielemans: 40M
🇮🇹 Jorginho: 35M
🇫🇷 Benzema: 35M
🇫🇷 Ndicka: 32M
🇫🇷 Thuram: 32M
🇨🇮 Zaha: 32M
🇧🇪 Trossard: 30M
🇫🇷 Kante: 30M pic.twitter.com/r0RYKen4VR— bwin Belgium (@bwinBE) January 9, 2023
Top of the list of soon-to-be-free agents is Inter Milan’s Milan Skriniar, who could be Old Trafford bound in June.
With Harry Maguire rumoured to be heading out of Old Trafford, the Slovak is an obvious alternative, being three years younger and considered to be one of the best defenders in the world. He is valued at €60 million and has been the subject of transfer gossip in recent weeks.
Third in the most valuable list is Youri Tielemans of Leicester, who has been heavily linked with Arsenal. However, recent reports on Twitter claim that United are exploring a January move for him after Donny van de Beek was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury that required surgery.
Tielemans is valued at €40 million.
🚨🇧🇪 Manchester United are exploring a cut-price move for Youri Tielemans this month. #MUFC [@sachatavolieri]
— mufcmpb (@mufcMPB) January 15, 2023
Another centre back, Evan Ndicka, is sixth on the most valuable list at €32 million and was reported to be on United’s radar last week.
Finally, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram is also rated at €32 million but could be for sale this month for €10 million. United have been strongly linked but face serious competition from Chelsea, among others.
The combined value of the four players linked amounts to €164 million.
In reality, the most likely January signing of the bunch is Tielemans because of the desperate shortage of midfielders in Erik ten Hag’s ranks. However, he would arguably be one of the hardest on the list to secure.
