Manchester Utd Chance Of Signing £25m Star Dashed As Bid Is Rejected

Manchester United’s hope of signing Barcelona’s defender Jordi Alba has substantially dwindled down has the Catalan giants reportedly rejected Manchester City’s £25m bid. In a statement made by FIFA agent Francias Gallardo revealed that Alba was the subject of an offer from Manuel Pelligrini’s side which Barcelona firmly declined. He further stated;

‘City was interested in a player of Barca… and made a bid for Jordi Alba but it was rejected by Barcelona’

Alba was an integral member of Barcelona’s Euro 2012 winning side and the defender has appeared in five of Barcelona’s La Liga fixtures this season although his discipline as a defender still leaves much to be desired. With his contract still running to 2017, Barca are already working on a bumper contract extension deal.

This will obviously heap pressure on Manchester United boss, Louis van Gaal who had been hoping to lure the 25-year-old over to Old Trafford as he hasn’t been too happy with the performance of summer arrival Luke Shaw, but since Barcelona could refuse the financial prowess of the Etihad big spenders, then van Gaal could as well be building castles in the air if he still has hopes of signing Alba.

The Manchester United boss will have to cast his net elsewhere to get another full back worthy of the left-full back position. Luke Shaw who currently mans that position has faced heavy criticisms since his arrival from Southampton this summer for a whopping £30m fee. To be fair with the teenager, injury has done more to hamper his chances to really impress the Old Trafford fans than even his actual performance. Given his very exorbitant transfer fee, and the fact that many fans still believe that it was his arrival that prompted Patrice Evra’s unexpected exit from the Old Trafford outfit, many pundits have required Luke albeit unfairly to hit the ground running. One thing this group of fans have failed to realise is that this is Manchester United, and not many players that transfer in from a smaller club fit in instantly into the fray.

Now that Jordi Alba isn’t coming, it should even prompt Louis van Gaal to give Luke Shaw more time to settle down, if he gets injured, van Gaal has two other left footed options in Marcos Rojo and Tyler Blacklet and more so, it is not as if Luke has performed sparingly, since when the manager chastised him during the tour of the United States, the teenager has strived to improve. So if Barcelona insists on not letting go of Jordi, Manchester United has enough options at the home front for the left full-back position at least.