Manchester United: Latest on Malacia, Martinez, De Jong

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Manchester United have been heavily criticized by a section of their own supporters, as well as some former players now working as pundits, for a perceived lack of activity when it comes to incoming transfers. Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard have all left as free agents, and there have been no arrivals to Old Trafford yet. Some media outlets have gone as far as ‘reporting’ Cristiano Ronaldo was contemplating departure in the case of no ambition being shown in the market.

However, the 20-time English champions are working on signings, as reported by Sky Sports journalist Melissa Reddy.

For one, they’ve already agreed a deal in principle with Feyenoord over the signing of Tyrell Malacia as manager Erik ten Hag seeks to overhaul the fullback positions. They’re expected to pay around €17 million for the services of the 22-year-old left-back, who made a total of 50 appearances for the Eredivisie side in all competitions in 2021/22, scoring once and providing five assists.

Ten Hag is also keen to bolster the central defensive area, and to that end, he is pushing for the club to sign Lisandro Martinez from his own former club Ajax, with Arsenal also said to be in the race for the 24-year-old.

And last but not least, United’s interest in Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong has been one of the hotter topics of this summer so far, with the Catalan club keen to raise funds through the sale of the 26-year-old while the player himself doesn’t appear that thrilled with the prospect of leaving the Camp Nou.

Nonetheless, Reddy says a basis of an agreement is in place which obviously means the deal is pretty much on at the moment, though “significant complexities” still remain to be resolved.

All in all, it seems De Jong might actually move to Old Trafford soon, but nothing is guaranteed at this point.