Saturday, November 26, 2022 at 12:35• Jeroen van Poppel

Manchester United will definitely return for Cody Gakpo in January, reports said ESPN. Erik ten Hag has indicated to the club management that the PSV star player should succeed Cristiano Ronaldo, whose contract was terminated. Where Gakpo could be picked up for forty million euros last summer, the left winger will cost at least ten million euros more after an immensely strong six months.

Ten Hag also had above-average interest in Gakpo in August, but then had to make choices due to the transfer budget. The manager decided to invest that entirely in Antony, who was taken over from Ajax for a maximum of one hundred million euros. Now that Manchester United has been released from Ronaldo’s mega salary (more than fifteen million euros a year), there is extra budget available for purchases. Ten Hag wants to score goals, for which Gakpo is the right person.

PSV is committed to keeping its most important player on board until the summer, in order to successfully close the season. The people of Eindhoven will therefore fight tooth and nail against a farewell to Gakpo in the winter. The left striker is statistically by far the most valuable player in the Eredivisie: no less than twelve assists and nine goals in fourteen games. With his World Cup goals against Senegal (2-0 win) and Ecuador (1-1), his market value only increased further.

Ten Hag wants to get reinforcements immediately and therefore has alternatives in mind. The most important of these is Rafael Leão. The star player of AC Milan makes a big impression just like last season and also scored his first World Cup goal this week with a short substitution for Portugal against Ghana (3-2 win). In Serie A, the left winger has six goals and four assists in fourteen appearances this season.


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