Game-changing Man Utd signing powers closer with Wilcox to ‘meet with agent this week’

Manchester United have a growing confidence that a deal can be done for Gianluigi Donnarumma, with the PSG goalkeeper’s thoughts on the move now coming to light and with the one major hurdle standing between the Red Devils and another significant summer signing.

The Red Devils may have finished 15th in the Premier League last season, but their appeal remains as strong as ever and the club, led by director of football, Jason Wilcox, are very slowly in the midst of a summer window of huge importance. Confirmation on Saturday that Benjamin Sesko was the latest player to sign on the dotted line has taken their summer spending through the £200m (€230m, $270m) barrier – but Manchester United are not done yet.

Indeed, Ruben Amorim still has hopes of bringing in two more players, namely a new goalkeeper and a holding midfielder. And while enquiries have been made for Brighton’s Carlos Baleba, the next arrival looks more likely to arrive between the sticks.

To that end, our reporter Dean Jones revealed on August 3 that enquiries had been made to bring Donnarumma to Old Trafford this summer, with the club enthused by the fact that he has under a year remaining on his PSG deal and the fact that the European champions are in no mood to let the Italy keeper walk away as a free agent.

Better yet, with Donnarumma understood to be open to the move to Old Trafford, it’s now been revealed by United website StrettyNews that a fresh meeting with the Italian goalkeeper’s agent, Enzo Raiola, is “scheduled for this week”.

Those talks will be led by Wilcox, who wants to provide Amorim with a trusted pair of hands in goal, following Andre Onana’s failure to live up to expectations since his £47.2m (€55m) move from Inter Milan two summers ago.

And in another piece of news that encourages United, they have learned the fee needed to prise the multiple-trophy-winning keeper away from the Parc des Princes will be well within reach….

IN-DEPTH 🔴⚫ Man Utd goalkeeper targets: EVERY option linked for the summer 2025 transfer window

Gianluigi Donnarumma: Man Utd learn asking price as one big hurdle is named

Per talkSPORT journalist, Anil Kandola, PSG are ready to demand a fee in the region of £26m (€30m, $35m) – a fee within United’s reach, though the club still hopes to move on several members of their ‘bomb squad’, such as Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Jadon Sancho, to help finance the move.

However, while negotiating a fee with PSG should be a relatively straightforward task, United may have some convincing to do to try and persuade Donnarumma to move to Old Trafford, with his current wage demands seen as something of a major obstacle to a potential deal.

And with the 74-times capped Italy keeper on a deal worth €18m a year in Paris – some £300,000 per week – United will hope to convince the 26-year-old to accept reduced terms to move to Old Trafford, given the club’s ongoing drive to bring down their wage bill and minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s dreams of ‘not buying superstars, but making them’.

Despite all that, transfer journalist Duncan Castles is adamant a deal is there to be done for Donnarumma, stating: “The interesting thing here is that during these discussions between Donnarumma and PSG through the summer, Donnarumma had told the club he had other options and, at a certain point, he said he did not want to stay at PSG.

“Now that PSG have bought a new goalkeeper [Lucas Chevalier], he’s telling Paris that he would prefer to stay at the club, and he will consider staying and leaving the club under freedom of contract in a year’s time. That’s the guidance I have.

“PSG are understandably unhappy about that. The information I have is that they have told Donnarumma they will not let him run down his deal and leave on a free transfer in the same style he did with Milan.

“They see what Donnarumma is doing as trying to reduce his transfer fee and trying to organise conditions under which he can leave, where most of the money spent on his transfer, i.e. the total package of the new club, goes towards his salary and signing-on fee rather than the transfer fee.”

Man Utd transfer latest: Newcastle to avenge Sesko loss; another striker signing?

Meanwhile, United and Newcastle look set to get embroiled in yet another transfer battle this summer. The Red Devils have already beaten the Magpies to the likes of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and now Sesko this summer. Now in the wake of that latest loss, Eddie Howe’s side are reported to be forging ahead with a £100m raid for another major Amorim target.

Elsewhere, Rasmus Hojlund is increasingly likely to be the casualty of United’s signing of  Sesko and the club have now communicated their plan to him after holding further talks with AC Milan over his exit, according to reports.

The exit of the Dane could open the door for another striker signing at Old Trafford and a report this weekend claims a Premier League attacker has parted company with his agent to try and force through a move to United.

The major honours Man Utd target Donnarumma has won