How much will Man Utd pay to make Sofyan Amrabat’s loan deal permanent?

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 6 Dec 2023 14:47 GMT
• 3 min read

Manchester United must pay Fiorentina €25 million in order to make Sofyan Amrabat’s loan deal permanent.

United paid €9m in the summer to sign Amrabat on loan for the season.

The Red Devils have the option to make the deal permanent for €25m.

Given the size of the loan fee, it was always expected that this would be a formality and that United will pay the extra money to make the deal permanent.

If United choose not to make the transfer permanent, there is a clause in Amrabat’s contract that means he will automatically renew his Fiorentina deal for another year.

Despite the size of the loan fee, there is no guarantee that United will sign Amrabat permanently as he has struggled in his first months at the club.

Both Sky Sport Italia and The Guardian report that United are desperately disappointed with the performances of Amrabat since his summer transfer from Fiorentina.

The Guardian reports that United plan to sign a new defensive midfielder in January as they have given up on Amrabat being suitable as a first-team starter in the role.

The Moroccan established himself as one of Europe’s most admired central midfielders at Fiorentina last season, with Barcelona and Chelsea also trying to sign him during the January transfer window of 2023.

However, after recovering from injury upon joining Man Utd, Amrabat has struggled badly.

Initially he was played out of position at left-back by Erik ten Hag amidst an injury crisis in the position.

Amrabat struggled in the role and he was especially poor in the 3-2 home defeat by Galatasaray in the Champions League.

But the Moroccan has since also struggled since being moved to his preferred position at central midfield.

Man Utd have had their worst start to a season in over 30 years and are on the brink of failing to qualify for the Champions League last-16 as they are bottom of their group going into matchday six, behind Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and Copenhagen.

Amrabat at Fiorentina in 2022-23

Amrabat enjoyed a brilliant 2022-23 season, playing a pivotal role in Fiorentina reaching two cup finals; the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Amrabat was arguably the best midfielder at World Cup 2022, playing a crucial role for a Morocco team that stunned everyone in reaching the quarter-finals

The 27-year-old produced a series of dominant performances in the centre of midfield as Morocco knocked out Belgium from the group stages, and then Spain in the last-16 and Portugal in the quarter-finals.

Morocco were finally beaten in the semis by France, before losing the third and fourth place playoff to Croatia.