Man Utd can clear their own path to sign game-changing Champions League duo if they sell this £70m star - opinion

When it comes to the summer transfer window, there are few fan bases seeking reinforcements more than Manchester United at this moment in time after a calamitous Premier League campaign.

Sunday’s 4-1 defeat to Newcastle marked the club’s 14th defeat of the season and mathematically made it impossible for the club to avoid their lowest ever top-flight points tally - a prospect which was already unlikely when you bear in mind that the team are yet to win consecutive league games this season.

"The biggest worry is that there have been teams in the last five, six, seven years at Man Utd where you've thought they are every talented players, but they aren't giving it their all,” said Gary Neville on NBC Sports.

"The problem with this group of players they are giving it their all. There isn't a lack of effort. They are so below the standard and quality you need at that football club, all over the pitch. Apart from Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo maybe, I can't think of any of them that I'd hang my hat on. It's a really desperate situation because the squad is so poor in quality. they've got old players and they've got young players who are nowhere near it. It's a worrying situation."

Man Utd target game-changing Champions League duo

With European qualification looking increasingly unlikely and a state of the art stadium in the works, it looks like United will have to be frugal in the transfer market if they are to progress up the table while still adhering to financial fair play.

Potential sales of players like Marcus Rashford and Antony could make the process slightly more straightforward but there is still a shortage of funds for United to work with which is a huge problem for Ruben Amorim bearing in mind the scale of the operation he has ahead of him.

As such, United will have to use the free-agent market to their advantage and two potential targets in their prime could prove to be Canadian international striker Jonathan David and England international Angel Gomes - two players that are familiar with each other from Lille and available for free in the summer after expressing their desire for a new challenge.

David has long been regarded as one of the best strikers in French football, with 107 goals in 225 appearances across all competitions for the Ligue 1 club. While he has recently proven he can be a handful for the world’s best defenders, with goals against the likes of Real Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool and Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

He’s hit double figures in each season of his career, is blessed with tremendous speed and is the calibre of player that could rejuvenate United’s frontline. TEAMtalk have previously claimed United are one of the leading contenders to sign the forward, who is estimated to want a salary of around £100,000 per week, according to Italian outlet TuttoJuve.

Elsewhere, Gomes is a familiar name to United fans, having spent 14 years on the books at Carrington. He too is a free agent and is believed to be seeking a move to the Premier League to enhance his England hopes.

Gomes could offer United energy in the middle of the park while he’s also blessed with the technical qualities to make things happen in offensive areas. He too is expected to demand a salary of around £100,000 per week, according to an older report from Guardian Sport, who claims Spurs and United are fighting to sign the midfielder, who has reportedly already rejected West Ham.

Man Utd should sell £70m star to fund double deal

Brazilian international Casemiro is heading into the final year of his contract at Old Trafford and has struggled for form across the last two seasons after initially being a game-changer in his first campaign. The former Real Madrid star arrived at United in 2022 and is now worth nowhere near the £70m spent on him. He’s also believed to be earning a reported salary of over £300,000 per week, which makes him one of the biggest earners at the club.

He’s struggled for regular minutes under Ruben Amorim and no longer looks to have the energy levels required to fit into his system. TalkSport has claimed in the past that Saudi side Al-Nassr would be interested in taking Casemiro on board, and although the reported figure of £28m would represent a huge loss in terms of profit, it would give United the facilities to go all out to try and land two prise assets on the free agent market while still offering funds that could be reinvested elsewhere on the pitch.

If United can clear Casemiro off the wage bill, they can then afford to make contract offers to both David and Gomes in two deals that could transform their fortunes heading into next season. And with the added bonus they would not have to pay a transfer fee and only negotiate directly with the players themselves.

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