With Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial struggling to hit top gear with minimal competition in attack, Manchester United are making the obvious move.
They’re preparing to bid €20million for a defensive midfielder.
That midfielder is Atlético Madrid’s Saúl Ñíguez, a talented 21-year-old knocking on the door of the Spanish Euro 2016 squad and linked to United by the country’s media.
For those of you unfamiliar with the youngster, here’s all you need to know.
Saúl made his debut aged just 17, coming off the bench in a Europa League victory over Besiktas in March 2012.
His La Liga bow came more than a year later, towards the end of Atléti’s 1-0 win at Sevilla that helped clinch the team’s third-place finish.
The midfielder spend the whole of the 2013/14 season with Rayo Vallecano, alongside former Tottenham man Iago Falque.
Phil Neville was a scout for Manchester United at the time, and was spotted taking a look at Saúl during his spell with Rayo.
Saúl has two brothers who are footballers. Aaron Ñíguez came through the ranks at Valencia, and is now playing for Portuguese club Braga, while eldest brother Jony has spent the bulk of his career in Spain’s lower leagues.
Atlético Madrid boss Diego Simeone has gone on record as saying his young midfielder “has everything…he can play anywhere in the midfield, he can score, he can pass well.”
Saúl scored four times in his breakthrough season with his parent club, 2014/15, and has already exceeded that total this time around.
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