The Wayne Rooney saga refuses to draw a conclusion despite David Moyes’ bold statement in his opening press conference as a Manchester United boss, where he reaffirmed his desire to keep hold of the England international.
What complicates issues is that several players are being thrown into the mix, while old stories are regurgitated in order to sale copies.
Manchester United are keen to land the prodigiously gifted Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona for a reported fee of £17 million with the player himself eager to make the switch in the summer.
The La Liga champions are resigned to losing Thiago in the summer but are trying to dilute the saga longer by changing the nature of the transfer agreement, if the Spanish media reports are to be believed.
In an ideal situation, Barcelona should accept the transfer fee from United, as the Red Devils are successfully meeting the player’s release clause here. No fuss what-so-ever.
However, there are new twists in the tale, almost every day while the saga drags on. The matter has been made complex by the fact, that United striker Wayne Rooney is unsettled at the Old Trafford club and has been targeted by several European heavy weights.
Barcelona are looking to lure the England international but instead of paying £30 million upfront for him, the Catalan giants are suggesting a swap deal involving couple of players plus cash, with one of the them is obviously Thiago.
Catalan based newspaper Sport published a story last week that says Barcelona are looking to include David Villa as a part of the transfer deal.
The 31-year-old is one of the coveted strikers in Europe, even at this age, with Premier League clubs like Tottenham head-over-heels to secure his signature, and would cost around £8-9 million.
Thus, going by the suggestion, Barcelona are willing to part with a mere £5 million for one of the best strikers in the Premier League, and will allow Thiago and Villa to swap colours.
David Moyes clearly stated last week that the striker won’t be sold and has tipped Rooney to surpass the goal scoring records of legendary Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, and further achieve more personal glories at the iconic club.
The Sport published yet another story about the on-going saga today, and to everyone’s amazement, it was the same old trio of Thiago-Rooney and Villa, dominating the headlines.
English newspapers as usual have been quick to collect such information coming from the European press and have framed their own story within no time.
Meanwhile, according to The Daily Mirror, Villa has already agreed personal terms with the North London club, and it is now down to the two clubs to agree a fee.
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