Ian McGarry and Duncan Castles have been discussing the future of the Lille centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes and the reports linking him with a move to Manchester United this summer.
On a recent episode of The Transfer Window podcast, McGarry spoke of the meeting that is said to have taken place between the 22-year-old Brazilian’s representatives and the Manchester giants. He said: “We’ve talked about Gabriel [Magalhaes], the Lille centre-back, and we understand that there has been at least one meeting between the player’s representatives and Manchester United administrators. No fee [has been agreed] or even negotiations have taken place with regards to the details of that deal.”
Magalhaes played 24 times for the French outfit in Ligue 1 last season, starting in 82% of their league games and is said to have a value of £18m, although Castles, when providing further information on the prospective transfer goes on to state that the club are looking for €30m (£27.12m) in order to part with their defender.
Castles added: “There is that interest in Gabriel that we broke on the transfer podcast a few weeks ago. What’s happened with Lille is that Manchester United asked Lille to be made aware if they were going to agree a fee for Gabriel with another club so that they would have the opportunity to match or better [the offer]. Lille are ready to sell Gabriel, Napoli are very keen on him, Everton are very keen on him but my latest information on that is they do not yet have the €30m fee that they would like to get for the player. I’m told the best offer they’ve had so far is €27m. You have someone there who is attainable.”
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TIF Thoughts…
Judging by what the pair have had to say, United’s reported interest in the Brazilian appears to be genuine. It also seems as though a deal could potentially happen but it is dependent on whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the club’s hierarchy deem him worthy of a €30m (£27.12m) investment.