The midfielder has been one of the mainstays of the France squad for the past five years, plying his trade domestically with Ligue 1 giants PSG. After the arrival of new manager Unai Emery, Blaise Matuidi looks set to move to the Premier League and was reportedly in England the day after France beat Iceland in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals.
Blaise Matuidi has been an integral part of the French squad at the European championships, despite the rise of N’Golo Kante. However the 29-year-old defensive midfielder is set to take a back-seat domestically, with current club PSG undergoing some drastic changes to the squad under new manager Unai Emery.
PSG have signed three player so far this summer in Hatem Ben Arfa, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Thomas Meunier. The former two are additions to an already power packed midfield consisting of the likes of Marco Veratti, Thiago Motta, Lucas Moura, Adrien Rabiot, Javier Pastore and Angel di Maria.
The signing of Polish midfielder Krychowiak is particularly ominous for Matuidi, with both of them set to compete for the same position in the team. The Pole is likely to get preference, given that Emery has wasted little time in signing him from their former club Sevilla. The Frenchman also fueled speculation of a move away from PSG ahead of Euro 2016 with some of his comments.
“I am under contract with PSG, I am in Paris but we do not know what tomorrow will bring,” Matuidi said in an interview with Le Parisien,
Matuidi played a big role in France’s 5-2 victory over Iceland in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals, setting up Olivier Giroud for the first goal as well as dominating the midfield. After the match though, the Frenchman reportedly left the national side and flew to England, to hold talks with a Premier League side, according to Goal France.
That club is now believed to be Manchester United. Matuidi is represented by Mino Raiola, the agent behind two recent United transfers in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. After news broke that Matuidi was flying to England, former OGC Nice scout Jonathan Beilin, who has close ties to PSG, has revealed that Raiola has offered the midfielder to Jose Mourinho at Manchester United.
Mino Raola veut placer Matuidi à Manchester United. #PSG #manchesterunited #mercato
— Jonathan Beilin (@JoBeilin) July 4, 2016
Manchester United are ready to offer £20 million to PSG for the Frenchman, who has two years left on his contract at Paris. The arrival of Matuidi could spell doom for the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Marouane Fellaini, who have all struggled in central midfield this past season.
