Manchester United have plenty of cash and are not afraid to throw it around in the transfer market. Indeed, during the last two seasons they have been out of the Champions League they have managed to spend big to lure in top, top talent, with Angel di Maria joining in 2014 and Paul Pogba two years later for a world-record fee.

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Throwing money at the situation doesn’t always guarantee success, but it certainly helps and it’s likely this approach will be used again in the coming summer. Antoine Griezmann of Atletico Madrid is a mooted £86m-ish target and reports from the Daily Star reveal that the club are also keen on his cross-city rival, Marco Asensio. The 21-year-old has been one of Real Madrid’s top young players of late and Los Blancos are so keen to keep him that they’ve already slapped a £40m price-tag on his head – a big fee for a relatively unproven player with only two international caps to his name.

But he is good, and Man United have the cash…

The numbers show just how good he is, with his 16 appearances across La Liga and the Champions League this season having yielded three goals – all the more impressive when you consider his 620 minutes of action is the equivalent of just under seven full matches. On top of this, he’s played 314 passes (completing 90% of them), created twelve chances, made eleven take-ons and fired 17 shots at goal.

It’s a risk, but getting Asensio early could pay off.

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