Manchester United and Kevin Strootman are apparently bond to be featured countless times in the same sentence, making sports news headlines. According to recent reports from both the English and the Italian media, the Red Devils are keen on bringing the highly skilled Dutch midfielder to Old Trafford already in January.
Strootman, who has only returned to the pitches recently after a long absence due to a cruciate ligament injury, is the Christmas gift Louis Van Gaal wants the most, but it will certainly not be easy to persuade the Lupi’s board to sell one of their most impressive footballers.
The media are reporting that Strootman’s price tag is somewhat around £60 million and it is definitely not likely that United will release such an outrageous amount to grant a footballer that, despite his immense talent, was only fully recovered from a fairly complicated injury recently.
Such a risky investment could very well backfire, as often these type of knee injuries have a huge impact on the player’s future performances, since previously affected players tend to slow their game intensity in order not to spend their days on the medical department once again.
The media are suggesting that the Red Devils are willing to present a £30 million bid for the all-terrain Dutch midfielder and they are certainly hoping that their neighbours and rivals of Manchester City will be able to put an abrupt end to AS Roma’s Champions League campaign, believing that such elimination could force the Italian powerhouse to sell some of their most expensive assets.
Judging from what we have seen from Manchester United this season, Louis Van Gaal has not yet found the right composition for the team’s midfield line, as he has already tested several different players on the central midfield positions.
The experienced English midfielder Michael Carrick seems to have convinced the Dutch head coach, as he currently is an important part of United’s game strategy acting as a Regista between the defence and midfield lines.
With a midfield line composed of four or five men, Van Gaal needs to at least have a quality ball winning midfielder, who is also a reckless playmaker, someone he seems to have found on United’s recent clashes.
The skilled Spanish playmaker Juan Mata brought more creativity to team’s intermediate sector and Marouane Fellaini, who was labelled as United’s biggest flop last season, appears now to be fully rejuvenated as he is offering some extra vitality to team’s midfield.
Manchester United have plenty of quality options for that particular sector but it would be naive not to admit that a footballer such as Kevin Strootman would not bring anything new to the team. The former PSV hard working midfielder would certainly increase United’s creativity and passing efficiency at the centre of the pitch given his splendid vision and remarkable first touch skills.
To sum things up, the possibility of Kevin Strootman joining Manchester United already in January seems to be a bit farfetched, firstly due to his appalling transfer fee and secondly because it is not very likely that AS Roma will be interested in releasing one of their best footballers, especially when they still have a strong possibility of claiming the Serie A title and still nurture some aspirations on the UEFA Champions League or, in the worst case scenario, on the UEFA Europa League.
