Sneijder, Modric and Nasri = United, Chelsea & City ?
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MODRIC, SNEIJDER AND NASRI: MIDDLE MEN IN A MUDDLE
GOING ... Samir Nasri
TOP TARGET ... Wesley Sneijder
Luka Modric will not be sold - at any price?
Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and Samir Nasri are wanted by the Premier League’s top three.
THREE playmakers, three wealthy clubs, countless scenarios.
Some £112million may have been spent since the summer transfer window opened, but the three biggest deals look set to become a ‘who-blinks-first’ game that could run right up to deadline day on August 31.
Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and Samir Nasri are wanted by the Premier League’s top three, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.
No club will buy all three, or even two. But which player goes to which club remains very much in the balance. United would love to sign up Sneijder, and he has previously expressed his liking for them as well as his desire to play in England.
Sir Alex Ferguson will have to break his club-record transfer fee to land £35m-rated Dutchman Sneijder from Inter, whose new manager Gian Piero Gasperini appeared to invite a bid when he said: “It is hard to know what is going to happen over the next 50 days but Wesley’s situation does not worry me.”
Ferguson indicated he has that kind of money by entering the running to buy Udinese’s Chilean winger Alexis Sanchez before being told that the player’s heart is set on joining Barcelona.
United insiders insist there is a big marquee signing on the way, despite the £50m spent already on Phil Jones, Ashley Young and David de Gea.
Sneijder’s signing would take United’s summer spending over the £80m mark – the amount they received for Cristiano Ronaldo two years ago.
Ferguson’s first-team coach Rene Meulensteen underlined United’s interest in Sneijder when he claimed that he “could not think of a more ideal player for our team” than Sneijder, who is regarded as the perfect player to fill the void left by Paul Scholes’ retirement.
He said: “The new Paul Scholes doesn’t exist, just as a new Roy Keane has never emerged. But Sneijder would fit perfectly here. I cannot actually think of a more ideal player for our team. And I say this not because he is a Dutchman.
“I have worked at United for a while, I know the team inside out, and I know Wesley would be a great signing. He seems a perfect complement to the likes of Hernandez, Rooney, Park, Young, Valencia, Nani and Giggs. And, of course, he has the necessary experience in top-level football.
“I don’t know what his future is at Inter, whether he may leave or whether he is affordable. But, purely based on football skills, I say ‘get Sneijder’.”
Such an endorsement indicates Sneijder is United’s No1 choice, especially as Modric has expressed a preference for Chelsea and City are determined to gazump their neighbours for Nasri.
Playmaker Sneijder’s quality is not in doubt, as he proved in guiding Inter to the Treble in 2010, when he was also part of the Holland team that reached the World Cup final.
At 27, Ferguson will regard Sneijder as entering the peak years as he himself tackles the last and arguably biggest challenge of his managerial career – toppling Barcelona.
When Guus Hiddink was being linked with a return as Chelsea manager, it was thought Sneijder would be his top target. But new boss Andreas Villas-Boas gave his blessing for a £24m bid for Modric – rejected by Tottenham – and has also expressed interest in Nasri.
Ferguson had a bid of £20m for Nasri knocked back by Arsenal but also likes Modric – he revealed Tottenham’s Croatian star would have been his player of the year had he been allowed to vote.
Although Nasri is excited by the prospect of joining United, City are chasing the hardest. He will report back for training with the Gunners today, with manager Arsene Wenger insisting he is going nowhere.
He has been told he will be included in the squad for Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Malaysia and China. But, having turned down Arsenal’s offer of a new four-year contract worth £90,000 a week, Nasri would be happy to see out the final year of his current deal and then leave for free next year.
Wenger could be prepared to gamble by installing Nasri as Cesc Fabregas’ replacement – if Fabregas finally seals his return to Barcelona – in the hope he could then persuade Nasri to stay.
If a club makes an offer Arsenal can’t refuse, however, then seeing Nasri move to City or Chelsea would be fractionally less painful for Wenger than watching him join United, who scuppered his hopes of signing Chris Smalling a year ago and Phil Jones this summer.
Modric flew back from Croatia for showdown talks with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, and spent 40 minutes at White Hart Lane last night, being told he will not be allowed to move.
Before his return he played questions about his future with a straight bat. “I have a flight to London and I will start training. I have an appointment to meet him [the chairman] but we will see what happens after that. But I cannot comment any more.”
Asked about Chelsea’s interest, he did reply: “Anything is possible.”
And that comment succinctly sums up the most intriguing transfer triangle of the summer.