Red Devils line up first major signing

Napoli star could make English switch

By Brian Lofrumento | 25th May 2012

Rumors of Napoli star Ezequiel Lavezzi moving to Manchester United are rapidly gaining pace, with talkSPORT suggesting a move could be imminent. The report indicates that Sir Alex Ferguson is ready to meet the attacker’s minimum fee release clause, believed to be in the region of £25 million.

Ferguson is forced to reshuffle his squad this summer to compete with high-flying city rivals Manchester City, especially considering the transfer budget of the new Premier League champions. On top of that, both Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen are expected to leave Old Trafford this summer, leaving Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, and Javier Hernandez as the only notable strikers.

Lavezzi scored just nine goals for Napoli this past season but has been one of the hottest transfer targets in Europe after combining with the likes of Marek Hamsik to make Napoli one of Italy’s surprise packages in recent years.

With Napoli missing out on the Champions League for next season, it looks like a deal could be worked out between the two sides, but at this stage neither side has publicly discussed a potential deal.

Reports have also linked Lavezzi with a move to United’s Premier League rivals Chelsea and it should be interesting to see which club, if any, ends up pursuing the Argentine more aggressively.

Is Lavezzi the right man for the Red Devils? Have your say below!