Not for nothing is Manchester United, arguably the biggest club in the world, in terms of popularity at least. Much of the credit should obviously go to the club legend Sir Alex Ferguson, who changed the face of the club when he took over in 1986. He made them somewhat of a serial champion and the Red Devils won every possible honour in the books on more than one occasion.
It has been long since the Scot has gone, but his impression lasts. It has given his successors the key advantage of luring players in, with the “image of Manchester United” factor being pivotal.
It seems now they are being linked with another top quality signing in the form of Andrea Belotti. The Italian hitman has a £89.4m release clause in his contract and should he arrive to Old Trafford, he would be another big money signing for the Red Devils.
The Italian scored an impressive 28 goals in 38 matches last season and consequently became a hot property in Europe. He would certainly add a great dimension to the attacking line up of any team across Europe and Mourinho has been reportedly been keeping an eye on the Italian.
Belotti ended the last season by becoming the first player since Andriy Shevchenko in the 1999-00 season, to score 24 goals under the age of 24. He is held in high esteem in the national team as well and is set to become a key player for the Azzurri in the near future.
Belotti’s link to United will be happy news for Manchester United fans coming as he has also been linked with a move to the Spanish capital side Real Madrid. Although the move for Belotti will bring forth the arrival of another marquee signing for the fans, it may not be the most pragmatic signing and hence as long as Jose Mourinho is in charge, a move would seem unlikely.
Manchester United already have a fearsome attacking lineup. Young players like Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial are in fantastic form and are scoring goals left, right and centre.
With a potential return for Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the cards by the end of this year, adding Belotti would mean having a fifth top quality striker in the team. This would mean that United will have five deadly players scrambling unsatisfactorily to lead the line and Belotti, if he is to come, would have to join the queue before getting time on the pitch.
