Man Utd, Arsenal reach verdicts on signing Maxi Araujo from Sporting CP amid £55m bid rumour
Man Utd and Arsenal have reached decisions on whether to sign Sporting CP left-back Maxi Araujo ahead of the January transfer window, according to reports.
The Red Devils spent most of their summer transfer budget on improving their midfield options with Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba all arriving.
There was an expectation that Man Utd would improve other areas too with a new left-back the minimum many fans and pundits anticipated.
Man Utd were heavily linked with a move for Newcastle star Lewis Hall over the summer as they looked for a new left-back to give Luke Shaw some competition.
The Red Devils did take a look at possible targets, and were even linked to Man City left-back Rayan Ait Nouri, but there budget wouldn’t stretch.
Arsenal have Riccardo Calafiori as their starting left-back, who has begun the new campaign in brilliant form, while Piero Hincapie and Myles Lewis-Skelly can both play in that position.
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Both Man Utd and Arsenal have been linked to Sporting CP left-back Araujo, who can also play further forward on the same side, with recent rumours that the Premier League clubs were preparing €65m (£55m) bids for the Uruguayan ahead of the January market.
However, Sport Witness has now revealed that Man Utd and Arsenal ‘are not planning to make immediate advances’ for the 26-year-old, who joined Sporting CP from Toluca in 2024.
Sporting had set a €45-50m price for Araujo in the summer with the Uruguay international – who impressed at the World Cup in North America – having a €80m release clause but Man Utd, Arsenal or any other club could get a deal over the line.
The report adds: ‘A source has informed Sport Witness that there’s ‘nothing new’ about the Gunners and the Old Trafford club. There have been no developments since the two clubs first showed interest six months ago.’
Leeds match will be ‘very difficult’ for Man Utd – Parker
Man Utd look to stop a run of five matches without a win when they face arch-rivals Leeds on Sunday but Paul Parker reckons that Michael Carrick’s side will find it “very, very difficult”.
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Parker told FreeBets: “Well, I’m looking at the Leeds game at the weekend. It’s going to be very, very difficult. The Leeds fans are going to be at them. The performance and the result against Atletico Madrid could carry through into the weekend. If it’s not a right performance and the right result, Leeds will bounce off the back of that.
“This is Leeds’ big game. This is the one game. They win this game, given their performance at the Emirates, those Leeds fans are going to be buzzing. They’ve got great grounding at the moment to go into this fixture because of what happened at the weekend. Their midfield dominated Arsenal’s midfield.
“They were better than Arsenal in midfield in the way they went about that job. Can they sustain that when this fixture helps the manager in being the same because of the fixture? And every player knows what it means to those fans, those Leeds fans. So, it’s not the game that Manchester United needed or wanted.
“But I have to say, at this moment, which team would Manchester United want to play in this league at the moment, given their current form? They might have to say, ‘Oh, we could have done with playing Hull again, and we can maybe make things better than what we did the last time.’ But even Hull, when you look at them at the weekend, the way they fought back, it’s just fitness of mind.
“It’s just players who want to go out and achieve, doesn’t matter what jersey they’re wearing, to run hard for the person next to them, to help them. And there aren’t enough of them doing that at this moment. There are not enough people who want to run.
“You can’t play football standing still. It doesn’t matter how good a quality you possess, you have to work hard, and before you can earn the right then to play the way you want to play and should be playing, to give you the desired result you want to achieve. And they haven’t got that at this moment in time. Anything they have shown has never been on a consistent basis.
“So, this season is going to be a long, tough road at this moment in time. I think you just have to look at them, really, at this moment: if they can achieve, nick one of the European spots, the lower ones, that might be the best they get out of it, or a cup run.”
