Just hours after the final game of the season we learnt that Manchester United had offered a huge £27m for Southampton’s young starlet Luke Shaw. On Tuesday, The Guardian newspaper told us that Southampton had
rejected that bid, but United were expected to come back with a higher offer.
This morning, The Guardian believe that United will go back in with a £30m offer for Shaw, but not until the deal to bring Louis van Gaal to Old Trafford has been announced. They also believe that Southampton will let Luke Shaw leave the club, and Shaw himself would like to make the move to Manchester.
United are set to make Shaw the highest paid teenager of all time, offering somewhere in the region of £100,000-a-week over a five-year period. These figures are startling, considering United gave Adnan Januzaj a reported £60,000-a-week contract back in October of last year.
Sadly, our current situation means we have to pay over the odds for players, and this is the first case of that. Luke Shaw could turn out to be one of those excellent long-term investments, similarly to that of Wayne Rooney. However, at just eighteen, Shaw isn’t proven at the highest level just yet, and it could turn out to be one of the biggest transfer flops in the Premier League era.
Whilst I doubt the latter will happen, it is a huge risk, but its also one United have to take. The £30m fee is probably about right for all involved, and hopefully this deal will be tied up before the World Cup.