Manchester United are preparing a A?6m offer to bring Gokhan Tore, back to England three years after he left Chelsea, according to reports in Turkey.
The 22 year old is being viewed as a player that could prove to be a good squad addition and could boost the club’s chances of finishing the season on a strong foot.
Tore started his footballing career in Germany as a Bayer Leverksen youth player. He was subsequently discovered by Frank Arnesen, former head talent scout of Chelsea, when he was playing for Bayer Leverkusen youth team. The Turkish international was unable to break into the first team for the Blues and spent time in London in the Reserves team. In 2011, he was sold to Hamburger SV. Despite establishing himself in the squad in his time with the German club (notching 23 league appearances), the very next season, he was sold to Russian side Rubin Kazan. The very next season, he was sent out on loan for a season to Besiktas. After enjoying a successful loan spell, Rubin Kazan struck a deal with the Turkish club in August 2014 who signed him permanently for about a 4.5 million.
Tore can operate as an attacking midfielder, right behind the striker, but his primary and preferred position is that on the flanks. It is thought that van Gaal thinks of him as a player who could operate both as a winger in case of a 4-3-3 formation, and as a wing-back in a 3-5-2 formation (similar to Ashley Young).
Tore doesn’t have the most clean past and was involved in a big scandal surrounding the national team in 2013. He and an associate were alleged to have broken into the room of Hakan Calhanoglu and Omer Toprak after Turkey’s World Cup qualifying match against Holland, to threaten the pair about a dispute involving a woman with a gun.
Tore’s international career appeared to have stalled after the incident, and many claimed that he would never be involved with the national side again, but he was called up again after a year’s absence because his on-field performances were pretty impressive.
For Manchester United, the arrival of 22 year old Tore would be good as he could prove to be a valuable squad addition. The 22 year old has certainly let his on-pitch activity do the talking for more than a year now. However, does the Old Trafford outfit really need another attacker when the likes of Adnan Januzaj can barely make the first team? From Tore’s perspective, as tempting as a move to one of the biggest clubs in Europe would be, a player of his age would want to be playing every week and going by the current situation at Louis van Gaal’s side, it doesn’t look plausible.