Manchester United to Target Tiemoué Bakayoko and James Rodríguez After Securing Romelu Lukaku
Looks like Romelu Lukaku is set to stay in North West England after all.
While the deal isn't finalized yet, it's now confirmed that the Belgian footballer is joining Manchester United this summer. With the move, Chelsea were dealt a huge blow.
The Blues were left reeling when they found out Lukaku was snubbing them for the Red Devils, but they might have to steady themselves for another round of disappointment because United's looking to hijack more of their transfer targets.
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According to the Daily Star, the Red Devils are now targeting Monaco's Tiemoué Bakayoko and they have reportedly agreed to pay £35 million for the defensive midfielder.
"The bitter blow for Blues boss Antonio Conte comes just 48 hours after Chelsea failed in a 11th hour attempt to persuade Romelu Lukaku to return to Stamford Bridge rather than move to United," George Scott wrote in his report for the Daily Star.
"Starsport revealed last week that Chelsea were unwilling to sell Nemanja Matic to United after being gazumped on Lukaku. But Jose Mourinho looks set to leave Chelsea's deal makers with egg on their face yet again after lining up France midfielder Bakayoko, 22, to boost his engine room," he added.
In hindsight, maybe Chelsea should have agreed to sell Nemanja Matić to United. Better yet, they should have insisted on putting a buy-back clause in Lukaku's contract when they sold him to Everton in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Express has reported that United are stepping up their pursuit of Chelsea target James Rodríguez. Apparently, the Red Devils want a creative player like Rodríguez to fill the void left behind Wayne Rooney.
Rodríguez isn't exactly an overpriced flop at Real Madrid. He has potential world-class talent, but he just found it difficult to break into the starting XI and he doesn't seem to fit in manager Zinedine Zidane's system.
With United, Rodríguez will get the chance to show the world what he can do.
