Thiago Alcantara is one of the most talked about players in Manchester at the moment, with the Barcelona youngster’s superb performances at the Under-21 European Championship in Spain, piling pressure on David Moyes at Old Trafford to make a bid.
Thiago’s price before he went into the tournament was quoted at around the £15 million mark, which now looks like superb value.
However, his performances at the tournament, most notably with a hat-trick against Italy in the final, mean that fee could now easily go the other side of the £20 million mark should Manchester United try to buy him.
The fact he’s now potentially more expensive to the club shouldn’t make one little bit of difference because he’s already said he’d be open to a move to Manchester and he could dramatically improve the current United midfield.
From all La Liga, Champions League and recently completed Under-21 matches, he’s a midfielder with a pass success rate of just under 92%.
In effect that guarantees that he’s not going to give the ball away, which was a main criticism Sir Alex Ferguson made when he was manager of the team last season.
That’s also a very significant statistic when one of the main pieces of praise Paul Scholes always enjoyed during his Old Trafford days, was the way he never gave the ball away and always played simple passes.
He’s also an attacking and creative midfield player who knows how to hit the back of the net frequently and United do need more goals coming from their midfield next season.
Thiago’s performances for Spain this month will also now make him very attractive to a lot of other sides but United are in as good a position as any other club to be able to throw their financial muscle around.
United can afford an elevated fee and they can afford to put Thiago on a competitive personal deal, which means all they have to do is sell why they are a better proposition than any other side interested in him.
The recent retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson will be telling but United remain in a very stable position when it comes to their chances of success.
It’s very naïve to think that David Moyes will suddenly forget how to manage a football team, win games and use the right tactics when it comes to the finer duels against the best teams in England and Europe.
United are the Premier League champions, they have a good chance of retaining that title and they have a great chance of winning all of the other tournaments they are in for next season.
Rather than seeing an elevated price as a reason to be put off of Thiago, Moyes should use it as an incentive to make a statement with his new club that United means business next season and they will pay to achieve it.
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