Manchester United Could Consider a Swap Deal With PSG for Their Attacker

Manchester United have not had the best PR with their transfer targets recently, with the club being linked with so-called “bad boys” in Marko Arnautovic and Adrien Rabiot. Now the club can add another to this list in Paris Saint-Germain’s Mauro Icardi.

According to the Argentine website TNT Sports:

"Mauro Icardi has no place in Paris Saint-Germain and, in fact, Christophe Galtier himself assured that a new destination is being sought for him and that he no longer works alongside his colleagues in the Parisian cast. In the last few hours, a giant from England appeared as an interested party: Manchester United."

PSG are looking for a forward so we could see a swap deal with Marcus Rashford. TNT Sports added:

"And one of those (forwards) targeted by the Parisian club is Marcus Rashford, striker for the Red Devils, and this could facilitate the Argentine’s arrival at the Premier League club.Given PSG’s interest in the 24-year-old attacker, Icardi could be part of the operation and arrive at the English team on loan, with a purchase option. The truth is that United will have to incorporate a striker in case Rashford leaves, since, added to the possible departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, Erik Ten Hag does not have too many variants in the attack."

Why Does He Have a Bad Boy Reputation?

Icardi’s bad reputation started when he began a relationship with his now wife Wanda Nara, who is the ex-wife of Icardi’s former Sampdoria teammate Maxi López. Icardi got a lot of bad press for this, especially in his homeland of Argentina and despite his talent, he has only managed eight appearances for his country.

At Inter Milan, Icardi also fell out with his teammates and the fans. He is, however, a very effective forward who has scored goals wherever he has played. At Inter he scored 124 goals in 219 games and at PSG he has scored 38 in 92 appearances.

It would seem like a recipe for disaster to add Icardi to this struggling Manchester United team. Although, Old Trafford has had controversial forwards who have starred for them in the past for example Eric Cantona. But that was when they had Sir Alex Ferguson in charge and the club is still trying to replace their legendary manager.

Is He What Manchester United Need?

Manchester United are in desperate need of a striker with Cristiano Ronaldo still wanting to leave the club. They have let Edinson Cavani leave and not replaced him while Rashford is now being linked with a move to PSG.

Icardi is an out-and-out centre forward who is quick and an excellent finisher. However, last season he managed just four goals in 24 appearances for the French champions. He has not managed to score more than 20 goals in one season since the 2017/18 season when he was at Inter Milan.

Against Brighton, they played with Christian Eriksen as the furthest man forward and this did not work. They face Eriksen’s former club Brentford and Eric ten Hag needs a result.

Icardi may not be perfect but Man United, despite the club’s prestige, are not in a position where they can be choosers at the moment and he could be the best they can get.