Manchester United midfield prospect Angel Gomes could be on his way out of the club this summer, with European heavyweights Barcelona and PSG interested.
As per a report from the Daily Star, Manchester United could be set to lose one of their most promising young academy products in the summer transfer window. Midfielder Angel Gomes will be entering the final year of his contract with the Red Devils and has emerged as a transfer target for Barcelona and PSG.
Gomes has been with Manchester United since 2006 and has been held in high regard by people at the club. The playmaker made his senior debut back in May 2017 against Crystal Palace, aged 16 years and 263 days, but has gone on to feature on only three more occasions since then.
Two of his first-team appearances came in the 2018-19 term against Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City on the final day of the campaign. Gomes has featured 22 times for the Under-19 and the Under-23 sides combined, in which he has netted eight goals and set up five more, while he has also captained both the teams on a number of occasions.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has claimed that youth players will get plenty of chances next season, with Manchester United participating in the UEFA Europa League, but happened to omit Gomes’ name from the list of players that are likely to be involved in his plans next term.
“Sometimes you can use Europa League as something positive. So you talk about smiling, I’m an optimist by nature, so you will make the most of it, is it giving players like Chongy, Mason Greenwood, James Garner game time? We have to make something positive out of it, no matter what,” Solskjaer said earlier this month.
Recent reports have claimed this statement, coupled with the lack of first-team action, had upset Gomes and with the player set to enter the final year of his contract this summer, the likes of Barcelona and PSG are hoping to capitalise on situation and make an attempt to land him in the upcoming transfer window.
PSG will be losing out on midfielder Adrien Rabiot this summer on a free transfer and promising youngster Christopher Nkunku could also be on his way out of the club, which might be the reason behind their strong interest in landing Gomes from Manchester United.
The interest from Barcelona is a bit baffling though, given the wealth of options in their midfield department, with Frenkie de Jong set to join this summer from Ajax. With academy graduates like Carles Alena, Riqui Puig likely to be more involved in the first-team moving forward, it is unlikely that Gomes would have an easy pathway into the first-team.
The fact that Gomes is attracting so much interest from two European giants is an indication of the potential he possesses. Losing him this summer would be a blow for Manchester United. That is why they should look to resolve his contract situation at the earliest and integrate him into the first-team more prominently next season, or risk losing him to Barcelona or PSG.
