Jordi Alba has reportedly popped up on the radar of Manchester United over a surprise move in a future transfer window.
According to a report by Catalan outlet El Nacional, Manchester United are considering a shock move for Jordi Alba keeping one of the two upcoming transfer windows in mind. Barcelona are not averse to the idea of cashing in on the 32-year-old, who is one of their highest earners.
Jordi spent seven of his formative years with Barcelona before ending his youth playing days at Cornella. The player, though, finally came under the spotlight at Valencia, making significant progress from 2009 to 2012 before returning to Barcelona following a successful and impressive UEFA Euro 2012 campaign.
Since then, the 32-year-old has been a mainstay at the back for the Blaugrana, and has gone on to amass 391 appearances while chipping in with 22 goals and 83 assists in the process. His top notch performances have always created speculation surrounding Alba, with several European bigwigs showing an interest in him over the years. As things stand, Manchester United have set their sights on the Barcelona defender.
The interest from Manchester United comes as a bit of a surprise, considering Luke Shaw has been on a resurgent run over the last couple of seasons or so. With Alex Telles being a worthy backup option to the English international, the need to sign a left-back is evidently not there.
Instead, Manchester United will be well served with bolstering their midfield and signing a holding midfielder, which is the kind of player they are desperately lacking in their team at the moment. Nevertheless, it looks like as per El Nacional, Manchester United could well be set to make their move for Alba, with Barcelona open to offloading him.
Alba is one of the highest earners at Barcelona currently and at a time when they need to continue bringing their wage bill down, the Catalan giants view the 32-year-old as the ideal candidate to sacrifice. In addition, with Jose Gaya a key target for them, Barcelona could well afford to cash in on Alba.
Manchester United, though, will only sign Alba on a cut-price fee, considering he is earning high wages at Barcelona, who wish to recoup a sizable sum from his sale. What now remains to be seen is if Manchester United do make their move for the veteran defender or if he stays put at Camp Nou instead.
