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The race for Mason Greenwood’s signature is well and truly on and it looks like the winger is set to move to Italy this summer.
The 22-year-old has been linked to three major clubs in Serie A, with Juventus and Napoli being recently joined by Lazio in a three team race for the English star.
Whilst it’s reported that other clubs across Europe are interested in the recent Getafe Player of the Season, only Getafe, Valencia, Borussia Dortmund and Fenerbahce have come forward to declare interest in the young winger.
Getafe initially wanted to retain their star player after his ten goals in 36 appearances, however are now looking to Real Madrid’s Arda Guler as Greenwood’s successor, whilst Valencia have been reported as offering £25 million in an initial bid for the England international.
In Germany, Borussia Dortmund were looking at Greenwood as a back up if a play for teammate Jadon Sancho fell through, with Sancho’s wage expectations being significantly above Dortmund’s current highest earner, Matt Hummels.
Meanwhile in Turkey, Fenerbahce’s new manager Jose Mourinho has requested for the club to enquire about Greenwood after being impressed by the then 15-year-old when The Special One managed at Old Trafford. Despite the appreciation from Mourinho, it’s understood that Greenwood is not keen to link with the Portuguese manager again.
However, the highest interest ad more advanced stages of negotiations come from Italy, with Juventus entering talks with United, even so far as looking to offer Samuel Illing-Junior in a player-plus-cash deal, whilst Lazio have swooped in late, offering the full £30 million that United want for the winger, throwing a curveball in the deal with Juventus.
Despite this, Juve are confident they can sign the 22-year-old, with the club being reported by Corriere dello Sport as agreeing personal terms with the player.
The only issue to the transfer has been the financial implication of this as well as wanting to sign Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa, however by offering Samuel Illing-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea to Villa alongside €30 million, whilst also offloading Federico Chiesa and Matias Soule, the club are confident they can raise the funds to secure Greenwood’s purchase.
The report explained: “The club’s ideas immediately include a move for Greenwood, who Manchester United values at around 40 million euros. Without completely neglecting the paths that lead to Sancho and Adeyemi of Borussia Dortmund,”
It continued: “With the scheduled departure of Federico Chiesa from the class of ’97… the Old Lady wants to renew the flanks and the Englishman from United responds to the identikit outlined by Thiago Motta: flexible and dynamic, he can also play as a second striker.”
It’s now thought that while there had been reports of Juve also making a move for Sancho alongside Greenwood, this would be a loan deal secondary to the Greenwood move.
Whilst the offers are there, or at least close to being there, it’s thought that this move may drag out throughout the summer, with the club needed to sell players first before they can finalise the deal.
