Ten Hag advised to offload Ronaldo; Eriksen agrees to join Red Devils, and more

Manchester United need to up their transfer activities this summer, as they're yet to announce a signing so far.

Meanwhile, former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore has advised new United manager Erik ten Hag to offload Cristiano Ronaldo. Elsewhere, Christian Eriksen has agreed to join the Old Trafford outfit.

On that note, here's a look at the key Manchester United transfer stories as on July 4, 2022:

Stan Collymore advises Erik ten Hag to offload Cristiano Ronaldo

Stan Collymore has advised Erik ten Hag to offload Cristiano Ronaldo this summer. Recent reports have claimed that the Portuguese wants to leave Old Trafford ahead of the new season.

In his column for The Mirror, Collymore said the 37-year-old was playing poker with the Red Devils.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is playing poker with Manchester United for a second summer running. Last year, he and his agent, Jorge Mendes, did it by dangling Manchester City’s interest in front of them. And this time, Ronaldo has clearly caught a whiff of the idea that Erik ten Hag fancies moving him on, so they’ve drummed up a suggestion that other teams want him to try to get United to panic again and tie him down,” wrote Collymore.

He added:

“Well, my message to Ten Hag and Co is clear: show some cojones and biff him off. Because, for one thing, can you imagine Liverpool, City, Barcelona or Real Madrid being held to ransom and thinking, ‘Oh, hang on, if another big club wants him, maybe we’d better keep him’. Of course you can’t.”

Christian Eriksen agrees to join Manchester United

Former Brentford midfielder Christian Eriksen has agreed to join Manchester United on a Bosman move, according to The Athletic.

The Red Devils were in talks with the Danish playmaker for a while and have finally reached a breakthrough. The club have offered the 30-year-old a three-year deal, which the player is ready to accept.

Ten Hag is working to revamp the squad at Old Trafford and believes Eriksen can add value to his team. With Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata all departing this summer, the Dane would be a welcome addition in the centre of the park.

Frenkie de Jong yet to be convinced of Old Trafford move

Acclaimed transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Manchester United are yet to convince Frenkie de Jong to move to Old Trafford. The Red Devils are locked in negotiations with Barcelona to secure the signature of the Dutch midfielder.

In his column for Caught Offside, Romano said that the two clubs are yet to reach an agreement on the add-on component of the move.

“There’s been a lot of conflicting information written and said about Frenkie de Jong, but actually the situation is very clear: Barcelona have been negotiating with Manchester United for weeks and have an agreement on the €65m fixed fee, but not yet on the details of the €20m add-ons structure to reach the €85m total package. The negotiation goes on,” wrote Romano.

He continued:

“Man United have known for months that De Jong would like to stay in Barcelona and that he loves Barca, but his salary is an issue for the Spanish club that would require a salary cut. To date, a reduction of the salary appears to be “unlikely” on Frenkie’s side.”

Romano added that Ten Hag is driving the interest in De Jong.

“That’s why the negotiations with Man United go on, but De Jong is still to be convinced about this move, so far the personal terms have not been discussed. I believe that Man Utd are simply trying step by step in every way to sign Frenkie by the will of Ten Hag, even knowing that on player side, the negotiation will not be easy,” wrote Romano.

He concluded:

“It’s a risky approach if it doesn’t work out, but at the same time we have seen Man United make the wrong signing so many times, seemingly just because a big name became available. With the De Jong saga, it is at least clear that Ten Hag has a plan, and the focus is on delivering the players to make that plan work.”