One of the many flaws in Manchester United’s transfer policy over the past two decades has been a reluctance to sign players in South America.
Manchester United have signed just two players directly from the continent over the past 11 years, both arriving from the same club.
Guillermo Varela signed in 2013 from Penarol, followed by Facundo Pellistri in 2020 from the same club in Uruguay.
While neither player became standout successes at United, it’s clearly too small a sample size to make a judgement – and it’s worth noting that both players featured in Uruguay’s Copa America squad this past summer.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, owner of Manchester United, Sir Dave Brailsford, head of sport for INEOS, Omar Berrada, Chief Executive officer of Manchester Un...
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Diego Leon linked
Manchester United are on the look out for another bright young talent, South American whizkid Diego Leon.
The links to Diego Leon have come via South American journalist Cesar Luis Merlo, and also reported on by Ben Jacobs.
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Diego Leon plays at a position of need for Manchester United, left-back, and is viewed as a star of the future.
Leon, 17, would become eligible to clinch his move to United after he turns 18 in April, but an agreement can be reached beforehand.
Negotiations are ongoing with Leon’s agent, with United director Jason Wilcox involved in the talks, with a transfer fee costing potentially just £3.1 million.
Leon plays for Paraguayan clubs Cerro Porteno, where he has played 20 games to date in his professional career, scoring twice.
Diego Leon highly rated
Diego Leon has been named as one of the 10 most valuable players in world football. It’s a list that also features a number of other wonderkids linked to Manchester United.
River Plate’s Franco Mastantuono has been connected with a move, as has Sporting sensation Geovany Quenda.
Also on the list is Sunderland midfielder Chris Rigg, a player Manchester United have been tracking for two years.
At some stage, Manchester United need to move from ‘being interested’ in these names, to start following through and clinching the deals.
Getting a low-cost deal done for Diego Leon would be a great start. There are no guarantees – but over recent history, United simply haven’t tried hard enough to make enough of the deals work.