According to reports from The Daily Star and The Metro, Manchester United are considering a January bid for Leeds United youngster Charlie Taylor.
What’s the word?
According to The Daily Star, who published the story as an ‘exclusive’, Manchester United have been scouting left-back Charlie Taylor for some time with a view to making an offer next summer. But Luke Shaw’s double leg-break against PSV yesterday evening – which has ruled him out for the rest of the season – might catalyse the Red Devils’ pursuit of the 21 year-old and force them into launch a bid when the transfer window reopens in January.
How good is he?
Manchester United fans will be particularly wary of acquiring talent from the Championship, knowing full well how terribly Wilfried Zaha’s Old Trafford career panned out after being snapped up from Crystal Palace for £10million in January 2013.
But Taylor’s been earning rave reviews at Elland Road this season after emerging as a first team regular under Neil Redfearn last term, averaging an impressive 2.3 tackles, 3.1 interceptions, 1 chance created and 1 successful dribbles per match from seven Championship outings. He’s also yet to be dribbled past in 630 minutes, which is another encouraging statistical feat.
Do Manchester United need him?
Luke Shaw’s injury is a huge blow to Manchester United as the only ‘specialist’ left-back in their senior squad. As previously mentioned, he’s out for the next ten months with a double leg-break so finding a replacement in January could be on the Old Trafford agenda.
Then again, United endured large periods of last season without Shaw and it didn’t affect them too much. The supremely versatile Daley Blind performed well at No.3 for the Netherlands at last summer’s World Cup, as did centre-back Marcos Rojo for Argentina. Likewise, Louis van Gaal always has winger Ashley Young to fall back on (or should that be full-back on!) in emergency situations, so he’ll only be investing in Taylor if the price is right. Which brings us onto…
Anyone else interested and what kind of price?
Based on recent speculation, Manchester United are the only interested party – although Taylor received a passing mention in Goal.com’s Ten Football League Stars Premier League Scouts Should Be Watching article in May and our guess is that some probably are already.
In terms of price, The Daily Star insinuate a bid around the £4million mark, which is by no means small pennies in the Championship. Whether Leeds feel comfortable with that valuation, however, is another matter all together – especially considering there’s no love lost between the two northwest rivals.
How reliable is the story?
The Daily Star always have to be taken with a pinch of salt, but every now and then they come up with a decent story. That being said, words like ‘could’ and ‘might’ throughout the article make it clear that this is predominantly speculation, likely a journo slapping together Shaw’s injury with murmurings of United’s interest in the Leeds youngster.
Of course, a club like Manchester United monitors the progress of hundreds of youngsters continuously – they have the resources to do so. But if there’s one element of truth to be taken from this, it’s that Taylor is on the Red Devils’ radar, albeit perhaps a tiny blip towards the peripheries.
Before United or Leeds fans get too excited or disappointed respectively, it’s worth waiting to see if other newspapers substantiate the story in the coming weeks.
Also in the news:
Chelsea, Man City and Real set for January scrap over £37m defender
Revealed: How poor timing cost Man United £6.5m this summer
Man United hope to beat Chelsea and City to England prodigy with £1m bid
Chelsea to return for No.1 target in January but face City and Barca
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