Manchester United to rival Barcelona for Atletico Madrid target

Manchester United will be facing off against Barcelona in the Europa League but look like the prime candidates to rival the Blaugrana for one of their transfer targets this summer too.

As part of Memphis Depay’s move to Atletico Madrid in January, Barcelona secured a €20m buy option on Yannick Carrasco for the summer transfer window. Fichajes say that the Belgian winger will almost certainly leave Atletico in the summer. At 29 years of age and with a contract until 2024, they see this summer as the perfect opportunity to recoup some of the €27m they spent on bringing him back to the club.

However Manchester United may look to rival the Blaugrana this summer. Obviously if Barcelona execute that option, Atleti will be forced to accept it, but United could convince Carrasco that there is a better deal waiting for him in Manchester. Carrasco is likely to have other offers in both England and Serie A too.

Given Barcelona’s large deficit to make up in their salary limit this summer, the financial package that United can offer may be significantly larger than anything Barcelona can. In fact, unless there are major sales at Camp Nou, it is difficult to see them activating their option on Carrasco, even if they did go for him on loan in January.