Transfer news: Man United looking at Aleksandr Golovin

Jose Mourinho is staying active during the off-season and weighing up all the options. One of the players he is scouting is Russian Aleksandr Golovin.

Reports have suggested that Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is evaluating CSKA Moscow midfielder Aleksandr Golovin before the World Cup begins. The creative midfielder is included in Russia’s preliminary World Cup squad and will likely be a starter. Russia plays a friendly against Turkey on Tuesday before their June 14th opening match against Saudi Arabia.

Mourinho will be watching this youngster see if he is EPL ready.

Who is Aleksandr Golovin?

The 22-year old midfielder just completed his fourth full season in the Russian Premier League as a member of CSKA Moscow. Golovin had one of his best seasons in Russia with five goals and three assists for CSKA this season. His club finished just two points behind Russian League champions Lokomotiv Moscow and fell in the Europa League quarterfinals to Arsenal.

Golovin has also been a part of Russia’s new talent they hope to show to the world at the World Cup this summer. Golovin has made 17 caps for the national team, including starting all three of Russia’s matches in the Confederations Cup last summer. He will play the role of creator in the midfield and provide for strikers Fyodor Smolov and Artem Dzuyba.

Russia’s Premier League pedigree

If Mourinho is impressed with Golovin and decides to sign him this summer, Golovin would become the ninth Russian to play in the Premier League. Historically, some of the best players Russia has produced in the last 25 years have played in England. Most recently, Andrey Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko were important pieces to the North London clubs for a few years. Both were crucial to Russia’s semifinal run at Euro 2008.

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Manchester United have only had one Russian on their team. Andrei Kanchelskis played 133 times for the Red Devils in the early 90s and won two Premier League titles under Sir Alex Ferguson. Golovin is one of the future stars of Russia and he could bring a different style to Manchester United in Champions League games and in some EPL contests against mid-table sides.

Golovin will have the world, his country, and Jose Mourinho watching his every move during group stage play. He is lucky that he is beginning the World Cup against Saudi Arabia and could go for a man of the match performance. If Golovin can play excellent for Russia at their World Cup, he could be trading the Russian red for United red in the fall.