Glazers may spend another £73m to satisfy Man Utd boss Ten Hag after Hojlund

Manchester United close in on a striker

The Glazers could spend another £73million to ensure Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has a strong enough squad to chase more silverware in his second season. A deal rising to £72m for Atalanta striker Rasmus Hojlund has been agreed but Ten Hag still wants another new midfielder and a centre-back after that.

Hojlund’s arrival will take United’s spend this summer to around £164m, rising to £180m if add-ons are paid. They have also signed Mason Mount from Chelsea and Andre Onana from Inter Milan. And the Red Devils are understood to want Fiorentina’s combative Sofyan Amrabat to beef up their midfield next.

Amrabat, who shone at the Qatar World Cup for semi-finalists Morocco, is expected to cost around £30m if United can secure an agreement. The tireless 26-year-old is a combative midfielder who would help take the onus off of Casemiro to repel opposition attacks and offer extra energy alongside Mount.

The signing of a centre-back appears contingent on player sales with Harry Maguire, Fred, Dean Henderson and Scott McTominay those who could fetch the highest fees. United had been expected to move for Monaco’s Axel Disasi.

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But the Frenchman appears Chelsea bound after the Blues agreed a £38m deal for the 25-year-old on Sunday night, according to The Athletic. Missing out on Disasi is a setback after also seeing previous targets Kim min-Jae and Jurrien Timber head to Bayern Munich and Arsenal respectively.

United will now have to shop the market for alternative centre-halves. Benfica’s teenage wonderkid Antonio Silva, 19, was watched last season but has a huge £85.9m (€100m) release clause in his contract.

The Portuguese giants are shrewd negotiators and do not let players leave without recouping a significant fee. They brought in a guaranteed £171m for Darwin Nunez and Enzo Fernandez last season which may rise to £192m after add-ons.

Given United’s financial constraints, that figure would appear to put Silva out of their reach. But Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo, the former Barcelona defender, is one potential alternative. Fabrizio Romano has previously confirmed to GiveMeSport that Todibo was watched ‘multiple times’ by United last season and he is a player they are ‘following’.

Todibo would be in Disasi’s price bracket – at around £34m to £43m – and helped Nice keep the second-best defensive record in Ligue 1 last season after Lens. The season before, their record was the joint best with champions PSG, with the Frenchman playing near every game.

Other young centre-backs with high ceilings include Lyon’s Castello Lukeba – rated at £30m – who is a major target for RB Leipzig and Sporting’s Goncalo Inacio who would cost £51m due to a release clause. Whoever United ultimately go for, it appears they will be looking at spending around £40m on a new defender.

That, combined with the £30m it will take to sign Amrabat, would see the Glazers spend an extra £70m or so. Signing the Moroccan midfielder and Todibo specifically would cost approximately £73m and take the total summer expenditure to close to £250m.

After that, Ten Hag will hopefully feel with five new recruits that he has a squad capable of challenging Arsenal and Manchester City domestically while having a real go of it in the Champions League. Time will tell if he picks the right signings.

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