Manchester United have allegedly rekindled their interest in Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak, with the possibility of making a high-profile deal for the player in 2022.
The future of Jan Oblak has once again risen to the top of the agenda, and according to the Fichajes, he may be playing his last season with Atletico Madrid, with Manchester United and Juventus among the potential suitors waiting in the wings to make a move in 2022.
Because the Slovenian goalkeeper’s contract with the Wanda Metropolitano ends on June 30, 2023, Los Rojiblancos may be forced to sell their no. 1 goalie the following summer if they are unable to strike an agreement to prolong his stay with the club. It is believed that Oblak’s current contract has a €100m termination clause, and it is expected that the reigning La Liga winners would want a transfer price in the same ballpark.
The Transfer Saga That Has Been Talked About For So Long
The Manchester United club has been linked with a transfer for Oblak on many occasions in the past. When the transfer window opened in May of this year, there were rumours of a possible swap deal with David de Gea moving the opposite way. Even though Paris Saint-Germain was a potential suitor, the French champions eventually chose to sign Italian prodigy Gianluigi Donnarumma.
In the four years after his arrival from Benfica in 2014, Oblak has established himself as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world under Diego Simeone’s guidance. The 28-year-old is a gigantic presence between the posts for the Colchoneros, and he has an incredible record for the club, having maintained 163 clean sheets while conceding just 219 goals in 313 games.
Aside from that, he is a highly steady performer, having made 37 or more league appearances in each of the past three seasons, and he save percentage has never been lower than 75% in his three seasons with Atletico Madrid. He also came to the rescue of his team on a number of occasions during crucial Champions League matches, because of his outstanding shot-stopping abilities and dominating presence in the penalty area.
Does Manchester United Need Jan Oblak?
David de Gea and Dean Henderson are already among the best goalkeepers in the world for Manchester United. The club also re-signed Tom Heaton, who will serve as the third-choice goalkeeper this season.
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has been reinstated as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper and has made an impressive start to the current season, with his notable and influential performances against Villarreal and West Ham helping him to rebuild his tarnished reputation. Recently, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised David de Gea for the effect he has had on the team after a run of outstanding performances.
The fact that Oblak is a world-class goalkeeper is undeniable, but Manchester United already have an abundance of goalkeepers on their books, and the astronomical transfer fee involved may be too much for the Red Devils to bear, especially given the fact that they are still in the market for a solid defensive midfielder to address their glaring midfield issues.
If these rumours are true, it would be prudent for Manchester United to forego signing a goalkeeper and instead invest their resources in bringing in a quality defensive midfielder to complement their star-studded frontline, with Marcelo Brozovic among those who have been identified as potential targets for them.
