David Moyes looks to Barcelona midfield for new recruit
David Moyes is keen to sign Cesc Fábregas or Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona this summer as Manchester United bid to lure one of the midfielders away from the Spanish champions.
United are understood to be working on deals for both players in the hope of securing one of their signatures as Moyes makes strengthening the Barclays Premier League champions’ midfield his priority.
Since Arsenal have first refusal on Fábregas, whom they sold to Barcelona in 2011, signing the Spain midfielder will not be without its difficulties. With three years remaining on his contract, the 26-year-old will also be considerably more expensive than Thiago since Barcelona would look to at least recoup the projected £35 million they paid Arsenal for the player.
Sandro Rosell, the Barcelona president, confirmed that the release clause in Thiago’s contract is €18 million (£15.3 million) and that this figure would have risen to an astonishing €90 million had the 22-year-old played in at least 60 per cent of Barcelona’s matches last season. “I understand that he wants to play more games, but I’d like him to stay on at the club and become as important as Xavi, [Andrés] Iniesta and Sergio Busquets,” Rosell said.
United have been tracking Thiago for three years and had a £15 million bid for the player rejected by Barcelona in the same summer that Fábregas left Arsenal for the Nou Camp.
Their interest has remained strong in the intervening two years and has not altered with the arrival of Moyes, who also followed Thiago’s development while at Everton, even though he was beyond the Merseyside club’s reach. Moyes is understood to have dispatched Jim Lawlor, United’s chief scout, to run the rule over Thiago at the European Under-21 Championship.
