Reports: Manchester United and Tottenham 'in talks' for stunning swap deal
What's the rumour?
It looks like Toby Alderweireld is on top of Jose Mourinho's priority list and if the report coming in from The Independent is to be believed, Tottenham Hotspur need Anthony Martial to be included in any negotiations involving the big Belgian defender who wants out of Tottenham.
However, Manchester United are not too keen on working that angle and given Alderweireld wants to move, they are hoping that the Lilywhites' top brass will give in without Martial being included in the deal.
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Daniel Levy has been characteristically difficult to negotiate with and as a result, Manchester United have been looking at alternative options to the point that they've already made an approach for Leicester City's Harry Maguire.
Toby Alderweireld had grown frustrated at Tottenham Hotspur as following the induction of Davinson Sanchez into the first team, the Belgian centre-back has been often replaced by the youngster.
The heart of the matter
Anthony Martial was growing into his own at Manchester United before the arrival of Alexis Sanchez. The Chilean arrived in January and immediately robbed Martial off his starting spot while the Frenchman was on his best run in a United shirt.
As a result, Martial saw playing time hard to come by and ultimately ended up being not selected to the France national team that eventually won the World Cup.
With Alexis Sanchez, Marcus Rashford and Andreas Pereira all capable of playing down the left flank, there'll be intense competition for a starting spot as far as Anthony Martial is concerned. However, Manchester United do not seem too keen on offloading the young Frenchman who is a fan favourite and can be unstoppable on his day.
However, a frustrated Jose Mourinho is reportedly urging Woodward to land a centre-half in the very least and would be willing to go all the way to sign Toby Alderweireld.
That being said, with Toby also wanting to move out, United will feel that Tottenham will be faced with no choice but to concede and let the 29-year-old leave for a fee.
Rumour rating/probability: 5/10
Independent are quite an okay source when it comes to transfer news. However, offloading a young Anthony Martial for a veteran defender does not really make sense from Manchester United's standpoint.
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What's next?
As stated above, it looks unlikely that United will swap Martial for Alderweireld. But that does not mean that United will bow out of the race to sign Toby Alderweireld. They're likely to put big money on the table and lure Tottenham into a deal.