Man Utd Open Talks to Sign £67m Como Star Martin Baturina

The January transfer window is likely to be a lively one for Manchester United as they look to rescue their campaign under new boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Michael Carrick’s increasingly inevitable sacking finally arrived at the start of the current international break and USMNT manager Pochettino has been confirmed as his replacement.

With United languishing inside the Premier League’s bottom three this far into the campaign, it is going to take a new manager bounce and then some to make anything out of the season.

Much of the fury around Old Trafford this term has been directed at Jason Wilcox for overseeing an uneven summer transfer window, but the club’s director of football is now just under seven weeks away from his first opportunity to address that for the new manager.

Striker and full-back look like the most obvious areas in need of help at this stage, but United are reportedly already holding discussions over the addition of an exciting new attacking midfielder as well.

Baturina in Man Utd’s sights as Pochettino arrives

REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

The Daily Briefing report that Red Devils representatives have already started “early discussions” with Como over a big-money move for Martin Baturina.

The Croatian star, who scored against England in their 4-2 defeat at the World Cup during the summer, is thought to be available if a fee of around €80 million is paid (£67m) but talks are some way from settling on an agreement.

Pochettino is going to need to harness every bit of the formula he implemented at Tottenham to take them within an historic Leicester surge of the Premier League title over a decade ago to turn things around at Old Trafford, as the solid but unspectacular offering his Chelsea side delivered three seasons ago is unlikely to satisfy for long.

The general expectation is for the Argentinian to be backed in January to make that happen, with the likes of Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada surely at risk of losing their own jobs without a major uplift in fortunes.

But how much cash will be made available by the ownership remains to be seen, with plenty of blame to go around at all levels as things stand.

Having spent over £150m on Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos, and Youri Tielemans to restock the midfield in the summer, Carrick was left without reinforcements at the full-back spots, and short up front when Benjamin Sesko went down with injury.

So another midfielder, albeit a more attacking option who has established himself as one of the most exciting talents in Serie A under Cesc Fabregas, might be seen as a lower priority in the winter window.

Man Utd up against Pochettino’s old side Chelsea in transfer race

Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge

But according to the report, United are in direct competition at this stage with Pochettino’s former side Chelsea in the race for Baturina, with the recruitment departments at both Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge said to be fans of the 23-year-old.

United appear to have greater areas of need and would also face the issue of how the Como star’s arrival might affect captain Bruno Fernandes’ position.

But Chelsea appear even more stocked in attacking midfield areas after spending £117m in the summer to add Morgan Rogers to a group that already contains talisman Cole Palmer, and the likes of Brazilian wonderkid Estevao.

It would be a major statement of intent from United to land Baturina, who has scored 13 times and assisted six more in his season and a half at Como, assuming other deficiencies are addressed at the same time.