Manchester United seem to have dropped their interest in signing Juventus’ Paulo Dybala, and have now shifted their attention to Ajax attacker David Neres.
The 22-year-old was a key part of Ajax’s side that reached the Champions League semi-final last season, and could be the latest star to leave the club after the departures of Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong in the summer transfer window.
The Red Devils have reportedly made an offer of around £46 million for Neres, as per Yahoo Esportes, and despite the Dutch club offering a lucrative contract to the Brazilian, United’s offer seems to have turned his head.
Neres has been with Ajax since 2017, joining the club for a fee of €12 million from São Paulo in Brazil.
The attacker scored 12 goals and made 15 assists in all competitions last year, with the winger playing 50 games for the club in the season.
The 22-year-old has played 99 games for Ajax, scoring 29 goals, while he has also played 5 times for the Brazilian national team since debuting earlier this year.
Where will Neres fit in at Manchester United?
Manchester United no longer are interested in signing Paulo Dybala from Juventus, which means that they will have to set their sights elsewhere to find a new winger, ahead of the 2019-20 season.
Neres could be a very good player in United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s formation and style of play as he is a direct and quick winger who likes to take on defences with his speed and dribbling, while also feeding in through balls to other attackers in the team.
United currently do not have a direct running wide player on the right, with Solskjaer’s only options being Jesse Lingard – who has been inconsistent, or the young Mason Greenwood, whose best position is up front as a striker.
Manchester United have used Juan Mata in that position, but he too is not a wide player, and is better behind the striker.
Neres is young, skilful, and is a fearless player, which are the qualities that Solskjaer has been looking for, and he would complement United’s other new signing of the season, Daniel James, very well, who plays from the left side of attack.
