Manchester United are in the market for a new defensive midfielder to replace Casemiro, who had a great start to the season against Fulham with five defensive interventions and three chances created but declined precipitously throughout the 2023/24 season.
Kobbie Mainoo gives Manchester United a long-term superstar at the base of the midfield, but Man United would ideally like to sign at least one more top, young defensive midfielder to form a partnership with the England international for the foreseeable future.
PSG star Manuel Ugarte is the odds-on favorite to join Manchester United this summer, and it seems like only a matter of time before the Uruguayan joins the club, especially since PSG already inked his replacement in Joao Neves from Benfica.
However, another top defensive midfielder squarely on the Manchester United radar happens to be Ederson, who could join Teun Koopmeiners and Ademola Lookman as two important players to leave Bergamo before the close of the summer transfer window.
Signing Ugarte hasn’t been easy to this point, but Man United can’t count on Atalanta giving the Red Devils much of a discount on the Brazilian No. 8 either.
According to a report from Alfredo Pedulla, Atalanta actually rejected a 50 million euro transfer offer from Manchester United to sign the 2023/24 Serie A season breakout star.
Ederson wasn’t just great in Serie A, of course. The 25-year-old was stellar in the Europa League, too, producing a monsterclass in the middle of the park when Atalanta became the only team to defeat Bayer Leverkusen all season – doing it in the final, no less.
In Serie A, Ederson averaged 3.4 combined tackles and interceptions per game while adding six goals and an assist to help Gian Piero Gasperini’s team offensively, as La Dea finished in the top four of Serie A once again.
Paying more than 50 million euros won’t be worth it for Manchester United, even though Ederson could be a great replacement for countryman Casemiro. If Atalanta reduce their asking price next year, perhaps Ederson could join, but it seems like Ugarte is the bigger priority and someone younger whom Man United would prefer to spend that extra 10-15 million euros on.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.