Determined Man Utd to pursue ‘complicated’ €100m deal – Romano

Manchester United will attempt to sign Antonio Silva in 2024 despite the complicated nature of the deal, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Signing a new centre-back is Man Utd’s top priority for the upcoming year. Despite Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof looking much improved, their good form has thrown up an unexpected problem: Raphael Varane could be on his way out.

The Frenchman has seen his importance to Erik ten Hag diminish drastically in recent times due to repeated fitness concerns and is said to be unhappy about his current situation, with Bayern Munich and Saudi clubs circling. Yet, both Maguire and Lindelof could have left Old Trafford in the summer and are far from undroppable.

Quite to the contrary, the two still have their obvious limitations and not even their current purple patch can paper over them. Unsurprisingly, then, the Red Devils are keen to add a defender more attuned to Ten Hag’s system. Benfica’s Antonio Silva could be just that player.

The 20-year-old is a long-standing target of the Dutch boss, but his €100 million release clause will make a deal tough to strike unless the Red Devils can offload Varane and other fringe players for good money.

What did Romano say?

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that the Red Devils are intent on pursuing a deal for Silva despite the sizeable fee involved. “Man Utd will sign a top centre-back and Antonio Silva is for sure on the list. This is not new, we know the player is on the list.”

“What I wanted to add is that Benfica believe that a deal for the January window is really complicated. They still stick to the release clause, so €100m. Not easy, but for the summer, the situation could be different.”

“Because Man Utd really appreciate Antonio Silva, they have been in attendance to scout Joao Neves and Antonio Silva multiple times and they will return. United will follow the players again in these weeks, next months, so the idea is to keep scouting them.”