Man Utd 'already negotiating' transfer for €44m midfielder

Tom Weber

• Updated: 27 Mar 2023 14:31 BST
• 3 min read

Reports in Spain suggest that Barcelona have given up on their pursuit of Ruben Neves and that Manchester United are now negotiating with the Wolves star.

"Barça practically had a closed agreement for his arrival," says Fichajes. A deal was all but done, but in the end, Barcelona decided not to complete the signing of Ruben Neves.

The Wolverhampton Wanderers star has been a hot commodity ever since he first burst onto the scene as a teenager at Porto in his native Portugal, but a move to one of Europe's elite clubs has eluded him so far despite previous links to Liverpool.

This could have changed this year following the Blaugrana's interest, who reportedly had the 26-year-old at the top of their agenda as a potential replacement for Sergio Busquets. Indeed, reports Fichajes, "the president of Barça, Joan Laporta, practically reached an agreement with the player's agent, Jorge Mendes."

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Yet head coach Xavi intervened due to Neves being of a different profile to Busquets, a central midfielder rather than a true pivot. Barcelona thus pulled out, and this has, in turn, opened the door for another big side to swoop in.

Man Utd "already negotiating"

Manchester United have long since monitored Neves, and with Barcelona now out of the race, they must be confident of being able to get the Wolves man, with his club understood to have already resigned themselves to losing their star in the summer.

In fact, "Ruben Neves is already negotiating what could be his transfer to Manchester United starting next summer," if Fichajes are to be believed.

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It is not yet known how much United would have to pay for the midfielder who is out of contract in 2024, though some reports claim that the Old Trafford club would have to part with at least €50 million to secure his signature. FootballTransfer's in-house algorithm values Neves at €44.1m.