Wesley Sneijder Could Be On His Way To Manchester United

Is the Dutchman heading to Old Trafford?

He is the man that has been subject to transfer speculation all summer long. Wesley Sneijder, the superb creative midfielder, the world class name, the world class player that every Manchester United fan has been crying out for. Could he soon be on his way to Manchester United? I believe so.

The Dutch maestro has again been heavily linked with Manchester United in the past few days. Some reports suggest that we have been given the green light to bid £35million for Wesley Sneijder but whether these reports are true, I cannot say. What I do know is that there have been quite a few things suggesting that he could be on his way to Old Trafford.

The first thing is obviously the quotes of Gian Piero Gasparini, the new Inter Milan manager.

“There’s no doubt that Sneijder’s a great player, but it’s hard to know what’s going to happen over the next 50 days”

Gasparini is definitely hinting that it is possible that Wesley Sneijder could be sold this summer but says nothing about the likelihood of it happening. The new Inter Milan manager will definitely not concede that they want to sell Wesley because that is not the case but most sections of the Italian press believe that if the right offer does come along, Sneijder may be sold.

Thereafter there were some interesting quotes from the Inter Milan chief executive Ernesta Paolillo.

“We have to sell, then after we have sold we will see what Inter will buy, the first move will be selling and not buying.”

“We are thinking of UEFA’s rules on Financial Fair Play. That’s why we will start selling, otherwise we will not buy anything. But of course we don’t want to say who we will sell because that would not be a good thing for us to do in the market.”

Inter Milan have made quite a substantial loss over the past 3 seasons and so their financial position is to be questioned. Having already signed Ricky Alvarez for £11million, Inter Milan are also thought to be in quite advanced stages in signing Ever Banega of Valencia, Jonathan of Santos and Rodrigo Palacio of Genoa.

All three of the players above will cost somewhat in the region of what Inter Milan’s confirmed signing Ricky Alvarez does which could mean they may soon be spending a figure close to £40million. At Inter Milan it is only Wesley Sneijder who could command such a fee to raise the funds Inter Milan want to sign all of their summer targets.

Another Argentinian wonderkid is also being linked with Inter Milan. Erik Lamela of River Plate has also been heavily linked with Inter Milan and yes, he is a central midfielder. In fact, currently on Inter Milan’s books there are 7 players who are recognised central midfielders: Stankovic, Cambiasso, Motta, Zanetti, Sneijder, Mariga and Muntari. New signing Ricky Alvarez is also a centre mid and both potential signings Ever Banega and Erik Lamela are also centre mids.

So potentially Inter Milan would have 10 players (though more likely to be 9) who can play in a central midfield position on their books. The new Inter Milan manager’s preferred formation throughout his career has been the 3-4-3 formation which only accomodates 2 flat centre midfielders, not even the advanced position that Wesley Sneijder favours. It leaves an awful lot of players to fill up only 2 places in the team doesn’t it? Surely some of the players previously mentioned are going to be on their way right?

TalkSPORT’s Dutch correspondent Marcel van der Kraan came out just this morning with the following:

“Wesley Sneijder is in a difficult position in he doesn’t want to shout off to the fans of inter ‘I want to join Manchester United’ but we in Holland are absolutely convinced that Manchester United is his dream club and he would love to join tomorrow.”

“There was serious talks between his agent Soren Lerby and Sir Alex Ferguson in London on the night before a Man Utd game. From that moment on there was serious talk of how they could bring this player to Old Trafford and they have been masterminding it and I think that they’ve come to the conclusion that it has to be done now and has to be done for a big amount of money.”

If Marcel van der Kraan is to be believed, a Manchester United bid may be imminent. One thing is for sure, he and other Dutch journalists are convinced that Wesley Sneijder does want to join Manchester United.

If that is not enough food for thought, Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen also came out with some interesting quotes just yesterday.

“The new Paul Scholes doesn’t exist, just as a new Roy Keane has never emerged, but Sneijder would fit perfectly here.”

“I don’t know what his future is at Inter, whether he may leave or whether he’s affordable. But, purely based on football skills, I say: Get Sneijder.”

I say: Rene Meulensteen seems quite keen on Wesley Sneijder and so does every Manchester United fan. There seems to be a fair few different things hinting that Wesley Sneijder could be on his way. Whether he actually will be, only time will tell.

Should Sir Alex Ferguson sign Wesley Sneijder this summer? Should SIr Alex Ferguson target an alternative central midfielder? Who would you like to see join Manchester United this summer? Feel free to comment below.

Follow me @RedMancunia and RedFlagFlyingHigh @RFFH on twitter!