Fred moves closer to joining Man Utd in £44m transfer

Jose Mourinho is hoping to make Fred his first signing of a busy summer as Manchester United move closer to securing an initial £44 million deal with Shakhtar Donetsk for the Brazil midfielder.

United are also hoping to take advantage of Mauricio Pochettino’s desire for Tottenham Hotspur to do their transfer business early in the pursuit of £50 million plus rated Belgium defender Toby Alderweireld.

Fred, 25, who is represented by Gilberto Silva, the former Arsenal midfielder, is due in the north west when Brazil play Croatia in a friendly at Anfield on Sunday week and Mourinho wants a deal wrapped up before the energetic defensive midfielder flies to Russia for the World Cup finals. The fee could top £50 million with add ons. Shakhtar have lined up Maycon from Corinthians as a replacement.

Manchester City had been the original frontrunners for Fred, who had set his sights on a move to the Premier League champions in January.

But City cooled their interest when United entered the bidding and Shakhtar inflated the price, prompting Etihad officials to eventually walk away and turn their attentions instead to Jorginho, Napoli’s Italy midfielder. City backed out of a deal for Alexis Sanchez in similar circumstances after balking at the sums involved before the Chile striker moved to Old Trafford from Arsenal in January.

Assuming Paul Pogba stays at United this summer, Mourinho envisages Fred forming a midfield trio with the Frenchman and Nemanja Matic. However, Mourinho will be forced into the market for another midfielder if Marouane Fellaini leaves with the Belgian still to agree a new contract and/or a huge offer is tabled for Pogba and the manager opts to cash in.

It promises to be a hectic summer at United, with Mourinho also targeting two full backs and a winger in addition to a centre-half. The prospect of making five signings may be optimistic, though, given how a shortened transfer window is compounded by the World Cup.

Mourinho would also like Alderweireld in place before the start of the World Cup on June 14 but negotiating with Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, has proven a taxing experience in the past.

Nonetheless, Pochettino has made it clear to Levy, both publicly and in private talks, that he wants the club to conduct their business earlier than in previous summers, both in terms of ins and outs, and United hope that stance could assist their efforts with Alderweireld.

It would still take a huge offer to persuade Levy to sell to a direct English rival for the Champions League places. Alderweireld is available for £25 million next summer [2019] under the terms of his contract, which has two years to run, but Spurs want more than double that this summer.

Ed Woodward, the United executive vice-chairman, is under pressure from Mourinho to move swiftly but it remains to be seen if he is prepared to go the extra yard to secure the services of Alderweireld, who, at 29, would have little resale value.

Woodward was unwilling to meet Inter Milan’s £49 million asking price for Croatia winger Ivan Perisic last summer, much to Mourinho’s frustration, because it was considered an excessive sum for a player who was 28 at the time.

Pochettino is a keen admirer of Anthony Martial but United are thought to be opposed to selling the France forward, who has also attracted interest from Chelsea, to an English club. If Tottenham insisted on taking Martial as part of any negotiations over Alderweireld, a deal for the defender could break down and force United to pursue other targets.

Defenders Matteo Darmian, who is attracted interest from Juventus, and Daley Blind, who Inter, Roma and Ajax are monitoring, will head a clear out at Old Trafford.