Man Utd ready to splash £153m on Barcelona youngster
Manchester United are ready to splash out a whopping £153million (€170m) to sign Barcelona youngster Ansu Fati, according to reports in Spain.
The Old Trafford club have so far refused to meet Borussia Dortmund’s £108m valuation for winger Jadon Sancho.
United chiefs are instead believed to have offered between £60m and £70m up front for the 20-year-old England international, while the rest would be paid in installments.
However, Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo claim United are willing to pay an additional £45m to bring in 17-year-old Fati before he commits to a new contract at the Nou Camp which includes a £360m buyout clause.
Fati played 33 times in all competitions for Barcelona last season, scoring eight times in his breakout season with the Catalan giants.
The winger – who was named in Luis Enrique’s Spain squad for the first time last week for their opening two games of their 2020-21 UEFA Nations League campaign – has been placed on the list of names Barcelona consider unavailable for transfer this summer.
He is therefore being lined up alongside fellow youngster Riqui Puig to become the club’s shining light in the long-term with the future of star man Lionel Messi increasingly uncertain.
Moreover, the report adds the club are set to make his release fee a staggering £360m – nearly double the world-record transfer fee which is currently the £198m Paris Saint-Germain spent on Neymar in 2017.
Meanwhile, Sancho is seen as a short-term talent by Bundesliga side Dortmund – who will happily cash in on him as soon as their £108m valuation is met.
Read Also: Man City plotting to sign Messi without breaking FFP rules
The Sun however claim it is now likely Sancho will stay for one more season and will be sold next summer after Manchester United missed the August 10 deadline set by the German outfit to get a deal done.
The news comes a day after The Mirror reported that United have given up on Sancho after conceding that his £300,000-a-week wage demands would shatter their pay structure.