Man United are said to be interested in signing AS Roma’s midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo at the end of this season – as per a report in Leggo.
Nicolo Zaniolo has been with the Serie A side since joining them from Inter Milan’s U19 side two years ago and this season the 20-year-old has caught the attention of a number of top clubs across Europe.
So far during the 2019-20 campaign, Zaniolo has netted four and assisted one goal in 18 Serie A matches and lately, Manchester United have been keeping tabs on him as a possible replacement to Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish.
Leggo are claiming: “Faced with an offer in excess of 60 million, Petrachi will almost be forced to negotiate yet another painful sale of these years of US management.
“Juve is in the front row even if the English market is not excluded with Manchester United and Tottenham having been pressing for months.”
Is Man United looking at Zaniolo as a backup to Grealish?
As per the report, Nicolo Zaniolo is set to cost around €60 million in the transfer market since he still has four years left on his current deal with AS Roma.
And so it would make no sense for Man United to spend do much money on a relatively unknown 20-year-old when they can splash a bit more and bring in Grealish himself from Villa Park.
Also, the other reason why Man United are not likely to be too serious about signing the attacking midfielder is that fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur and Italian giants Juventus are also interested in signing him for the upcoming season.
So, we doubt if Solskjaer will be keen enough to fight off so much competition when he can get Jack Grealish much more easily, primarily since the Villa man is himself eager to move to Old Trafford.
Nicolo is currently out of action with a cruciate ligament rupture and is expected to be on the sidelined until the first week of September.
