Following the agreement on personal terms and agency commission, there is only one more hurdle in the Joshua Zirkzee deal.
Manchester United are moving early and decisively in the transfer market this season and a marked difference can be felt by the fans.
Three concrete targets were identified early and work on attaining them began at pace which is starting to bear fruits.
It is believed that personal terms with Matthijs de Ligt have been agreed, while Manuel Ugarte is also seen as an extremely attainable option.
United faced a race only for Joshua Zirkzee, where AC Milan were the early movers but the agent commission was believed to be holding the deal up but the latest developments changed the picture.
Only remaining obstacle in Joshua Zirkzee deal
The Athletic’s David Ornstein reports that United are now close to a deal being finalised for Zirkzee after reaching an agreement on personal terms and agent commissions.
It was believed that agent commission would be the only holdup on the deal but after that is agreed, United’s true obstacle has emerged.
The report states that the club is thinking whether to negotiate a price separately instead of paying the release clause which is in the region of £34 million.
That is because United face cashflow issues due to Profit and Sustainability Rules. Any release clause needs to be paid upfront in full while United would ideally want to spread their spending out.
An eventual higher fee could be agreed, therefore, where United pay less upfront but Bologna get more for the total package.
The report states that United see the whole package as good value for money despite a sizeable agent commission so paying a smaller fee upfront could work too.
Talks are expected to continue over the fee with Bologna, who are resigned to the fact that they will lose their star striker this summer.
A good sign of things to come
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been open about saying that it will take time to restore United to its former glories with a lot of work to be done in multiple departments.
However, their start has been extremely encouraging and the way quickness with which they have moved in the market to identify and secure targets is impressive. Furthermore, credit needs to be given for doing so in the midst of two international tournaments.
It is unclear how long of planning went into securing this deal and others but United fans will undoubtedly be really excited about what the squad looks like come the end of the window if the start has been like this.
