Rojo to United, Nani And £15.9M To Sporting Lisbon

It is now widely expected that Manchester United will complete the signing of Argentinian full back Marcos Rojo from Sporting Lisbon for £15.9m within the next 24 hours, with Nani heading the other way on a season-long loan. Rojo is due in Manchester tomorrow, while Nani is understood to already be in Lisbon for a medical with the Primeira Liga outfit.  

The move marks the Red Devils’ first foray into the transfer market since signing Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera in late June, and the first since van Gaal officially took the reins at Old Trafford. The Dutchman stated back in mid-July that he would take “three or four weeks” to assess his squad before making any signings, and he’s been true to his word: United fans will hope that Rojo marks the beginning, not the culmination, of his transfer business between now and the end of August.  

The18 has long said United need reinforcements if they’re to regain their place at the Premier League’s top table. While Rojo will add depth and a degree of versatility to van Gaal’s defensive options, the Argentine alone will not solve the problems seen at Old Trafford on Saturday. 

At the start of the summer, Executive Vice-Chairman Edward Woodward boasted that Man United would compete for the best players: “there is no budget. We are in a very strong financial position. We can make big signings.” So far there has been precious little evidence of United genuinely competing for the likes of Fabregas and Kroos, or of prizing the likes of Vidal and Hummels away from their current employers. Knee-jerk reaction though it may be, the revolution expected under King Louis is already starting to feel like another false dawn.

Woodward and van Gaal have between now and the end of the window to prove us wrong, or there will likely be another escalation in the tensions between the Old Trafford faithful and the Glazers: no number of commercial endorsements from Indian tire manufacturers will placate them if the United suits fail to act decisively in the remaining days of this summer’s transfer window.