United keen on Rodriguez-Nani swap deal

Porto have displayed a rather impressive tradition for exporting world class talent in recent years. Players such as Radomel Falcao, Hulk, Lisandro Lopez and Pepe, to name but a few, have all departed the Portuguese champions in big money deals as Porto look to cash in on their evidently excellent scouting network. And it doesn’t stop there.

 The latest departure could well be winger James Rodriguez says The Metro.

 Sir Alex Ferguson is well known to be keen on the Columbian and the paper suggests he could be heading to Manchester United this summer. But wait, hang on, hold it right there. As if the transfer rumour mill were an M. Night Shyamalan blockbuster, there’s an almighty, unexpected twist coming. Ok maybe it’s not that shocking. Apparently Nani will be offered in a swap deal. There you go, that’s it.

Now the paper doesn’t actually mention any fees being involved in the deal but presumably Porto won’t be agreeing to a straight swap.

Bringing back Nani may well be a popular move amongst the fans, but on current form Rodriguez is considerably more valuable than the man he will supposedly replace. The 20-year-old is considered to be one of Europe’s most exciting young talents, and at such a tender age there is plenty of room for improvement.

With Nani there is the feeling that the Portuguese international has already shown what he can do and a lack of consistency means he will never be favoured by Sir Alex.

The 26-year-old is on the fringes of the United squad and would surely be open to a move back to Portugal in order to rediscover his form and get some much needed regular game time. However he is on sky high wages in Manchester and will probably have to take a substantial pay cut in order to facilitate a move.

Meanwhile if Rodrgiuez does end up at Old Trafford then United fans will be presumably be rather satisfied that the flanks of Old Trafford should be occupied by talented players for years to come with the highly rated 20-year-old Wilfired Zaha set to join in the Summer.

Jack Johnson

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