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Sofyan Amrabat will know by the end of today whether Manchester United will complete the optional purchase agreed in his loan deal with Fiorentina.
United loaned the Moroccan from the Serie A club last season, paying €10 million for the loan period and agreeing another €20 million to make the deal permanent.
Despite the player being desperate for that to happen, United have shown no sign of exercising the option, which expires today.
This has come as a great frustration to Fiorentina, who were banking on the funds in order to strengthen their squad in other areas.
“Amrabat’s twenty million from England could have best completed an operation which was nevertheless fruitful for the Viola because they have already collected 10 million for the midfielder the onerous loan in a single year,” Gazzetta dello Sport claims this morning.
“With the redemption, however, it would be truly perfect.”
With Amrabat having “already made it clear that it does not want to remain in Florence,” the Viola are still hopeful that if today’s deadline passes, United could come back in and renegotiate a deal at a lower amount.
“The Moroccan strongly wants to stay in the Premier League and would not like to go to Turkey where he seems to be courted by both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce,” GdS adds.
For United’s part, it seems almost certain that they will not act today. First, because all the noises coming out of Florence are that they could get Amrabat cheaper by waiting and second because they need to know where other chips are falling.
Should the club buy or loan their top defensive midfield target, Manuel Ugarte, from PSG, and should they fail to sell Casemiro in this window, there would really be no need for Amrabat.
However, if either Ugarte (or another) does not come or the Brazilian is sold, then the sense is that United could come back in for the Moroccan to operate as a squad player.
A strong showing at the end of a disappointing loan spell at Old Trafford does give Amrabat a glimmer of hope that he could be making Manchester his permanent home. But as with last season, if a deal is to be done, it is likely to happen very late in the transfer window.
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