Manchester United scouting for players all over Europe

David Moyes manager of Manchester United (R) and coach Phil Neville (L).

Things might soon shape up for seventh-place Manchester United as both manager David Moyes and coach Phil Neville have been sighted scouting matches all around Europe amid reports that Moyes is keen to get fresh talent for his side.

Pictures of David Moyes at the Sant’Elia stadium in Cagliari has went viral with speculations suggesting that he was there to keep an eye on Cagliari defender Davide Astori and Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio.

When asked about his trip to Italy by the Italian media at half time, he denied being on a scouting mission. “I’m here on vacation, no special observations, no market operations.”

Benifica centre-back Ezequiel Garay is said to be another player Moyes is very keen to sign. It has been suggested that Manchester United scouts were seen in Estádio da Luz, Benfica’s stadium this Sunday while they defeated Porto 2-0 with Ezequiel Garay scoring the second goal for his team. Nemanja Mati?, Eliaquim Mangala, Alex Sandro, Nicolas Gaitan are other options United are looking after.

Meanwhile, Manchester United’s first team coach Phil Neville was in Spain monitoring Atletico Madrid’s 19-year-old defensive midfielder Saul Niguez who is currently on loan at Rayo Vallecano. United’s interests in the young midfielder are suggested to be very high, with Arsenal and Chelsea looking to hijack the deal any moment now. Rayo defender Alex Galves is said to be another player who was caught Neville’s attention.

Manchester United’s Robbie Cooke was seen watching Athletic Bilbao destroy Almeria 6-1. with the club’s long standing interest in Ander Herrera remaining firm. Bilbao’s Beñat Etxebarria has also been linked in recent times.

There were also reports of Manchester United scouts in the La Liga top-of-the-table Atletico-Barcelona clash which featured targets Koke, Luis Garcia and Diego Costa.

Manchester United boss Moyes in crowd at Cagliari v Juve, live on BT Sport 1.

Manchester United have been linked with quite a few players this transfer window with Marco Reus, Koke, Ander Herrera, Ilkay Gundogan, Arturo Vidal, Fabio Coentrao being the big names.

“There is an urgency that we want to sign players but are the ones we want available in January?” Moyes was found quoting last week. “I have said before that I will try to bring players in this month. But it is doubtful because of the way the window works.”

“There is no point me hyping it up, because the ones we want are probably not going to be available. It is that, rather than us not wanting to do it,” he continued.