Manchester United are reportedly willing to let James Garner leave the club on a permanent transfer with John Murtough behind the decision.
Samuel Luckhurst claims that the club’s Football Director put the young midfielder up for sale on Thursday.
He is valued at between £15m and £20m, with Luckhurst reporting that agency sources see that as a gross undervaluation.
For Luckhurst, the willingness to let Garner leave the club is proof of the incompetence of the Glazers, Murtough and Erik ten Hag all at once.
He insists that Garner is good enough to play for Liverpool, having played well against them for Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup tie back in March.
No doubt, Garner is a talented player, but so are Dean Henderson and Jesse Lingard.
In those cases, the club have been – quite correctly – criticised for holding onto players for too long in the hope of protecting their values.
The resulting unhappiness and lack of reimbursement for the players is seemingly something the club now wish to avoid.
And frankly, if the manager does not think that James Garner is good enough to displace Scott McTominay from midfield, it would seem best for all parties to move on.
The worry for United is the lack of midfield quality available at Old Trafford.
And with United reportedly in the market for two top-class midfielders, fans will hope that any decision to let Garner go would be done with those additions in mind.
It would be of no benefit to the academy graduate or the club to leave him stuck behind another two players in the pecking order.
Of course, should the club fail to recruit well in the next two weeks, they will certainly regret the loss of the James Garner, with numbers short as they are.
