RedMsg Daily Brief
The Lead
Transfercorroboratedunresolved
Joshua Zirkzee looks like staying: Juventus have agreed terms with Nick Woltemade instead
Juventus moved for Newcastle's Nick Woltemade on Monday evening, according to Sky Sport Italia, leaving Joshua Zirkzee's route out narrower than it looked over the weekend. The Woltemade deal is a paid loan with no option to buy, cheaper and looser than the €2.5m loan with a €30m option that Sky Sport Italia reported for Zirkzee. Fiorentina, the other interested club, took Beto instead.
Woltemade has given Juventus a first yes but is deciding on the second, per Gazzetta dello Sport. Gazzetta dello Sport says United would not move off a €35m package covering loan fee and buyout, its account of the gap rather than United's. Italy's window shuts at 19:00 BST, four hours before England's, so Zirkzee's market closes first.
Sky Sport Italia · paywalled, link only
What Moved Since Tue 1 Sep
The clearest move on the board is a departure: Dan Gore's loan to Luton Town has closed out, the only target here to fully resolve. Everything else is drift, two links losing steam and a third barely stirring on one fresh report.
Dan Gore, out. Departed Watching to Departed, 20 to 86. The move is done.
Eduardo Conceicao, in. Dead Watching to Dead, 0 to 0.
Louis Page, in. Cooling Watching to Cooling, 18 to 8. Moving back.
Bruno Fernandes, out. Cooling Watching to Cooling, 0 to 0. A fresh counter-report landed.
Chido Obi, out. Watching Rising to Watching, 27 to 25. Holding its level.
Ferdi Kadioglu, in. Watching Cooling to Watching, 0 to 0. Holding its level.
Movement measured since Tue 1 Sep.
None of the incoming interest moved forward; the ledger's only certainty points out the door.
Our read
Our read: the one completed move is an exit, not a signing, which says more about what United are prepared to sell than what they intend to buy.
The Briefing
Dan Gore's loan to Luton Town and Jayce Fitzgerald's to Rotherham were both confirmed by the club, taking United's summer academy outflow to seven in and twenty four out.
Transferofficially confirmed
Alejandro Balde looks out of reach, per the Manchester Evening News: Barcelona want a permanent sale, United prefer a loan, and Lewis Hall stays parked at around £75m, the Daily Mail reports.
Transferreported
United have opened talks over a new Bruno Fernandes contract, the Manchester Evening News reports, with ten months left on his deal and a club option to extend it a further year, Simon Stone adds.
Transferreported
Gary Neville said before the Ipswich game that United still need a centre-back and a left-back, while praising the club's piece-by-piece transfer approach.
Analysisreported
Creator Spotlight
Samuel Luckhurst
Samuel Luckhurst, tier 1, credibility 88 on our own scale.
Samuel Luckhurst is chief United writer for the Manchester Evening News, credibility score 88, tier 1. With the transfer window closing, most of the movement in this issue runs through his newsroom's live blog. His edge is proximity: daily access to club briefings rather than the wire-service churn that fills most transfer pages.
Club Pulse
Ownership: quiet (thin sample)
Manager: quiet (thin sample)
First Team: -29, -3 on a sample of 10
Academy: quiet (thin sample)
Women: quiet (thin sample)
Ownership, the manager, academy and the women's side are all quiet; thin samples give no reading. First-team mood sits at minus 29, three points softer than before, across ten data points, still weighed down by the Zirkzee saga.
Fan Voice
Deadline-day opinion is split on where United's defensive priority actually lies: two BBC readers disagree over right-back cover versus a second left-back.
We need a decent right-back. Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot were just not good enough over the first two weekends, yet all we talk about is a new left-back.
Gerry, via the BBC’s Manchester United page, sentiment negative
We are still shaky at the back. Luke Shaw needs a back-up.
Amos, via the BBC’s Manchester United page, sentiment negative
Player in Focus
Harry Amass
4 mentions on the day's count, sentiment negative, trend stable.
Harry Amass sits on four mentions, a small base but enough to read: negative sentiment, missing from Monday's under-21 win, and named in three contradicting versions of a Burnley or Wolves move within one Manchester Evening News blog, per Simon Stone. Where he ends up before the deadline is the one thing none of the reports agree on.
"Significantly, full-back Harry Amass was not involved amid conflicting reports over the 19-year-old being in talks with Burnley." Simon Stone adds: "It is anticipated Amass will move away from Old Trafford before Tuesday night's deadline."
From the Archive
09-01 · 2008
Berbatov signs for 30.75m
United signed Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur for 30.75 million pounds on the final day of the summer transfer window.
Deadline days used to move slower and cost more: in 2008 United spent the whole window's drama on one striker, bringing Dimitar Berbatov in from Tottenham for a club-record fee on transfer deadline day itself.
Hot Topics
Joshua Zirkzee’s exit (8, fading) · United’s left-back search (6, rising) · Harry Amass’s exit (4, rising)
FREE · DAILY · 07:00
The brief, in your inbox at seven.
Transfer state, confidence, and receipts on what we called. One email a morning, no spam.
Also on RedMsg
Sign-off
For live updates as the window closes, follow the paper's transfer blogs beyond this issue.
The RedMsg Daily Brief. Manchester United intelligence with a memory.