He looks like Rice: big-money target agrees £100,000-a-week deal with Manchester United

If any participant ought to beat out Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes to win the PFA Participant of the 12 months award, it might be former goal Declan Rice. The England star is main the way in which on the Emirates.

In one other life, the 27-year-old may have ended up at Previous Trafford if issues had performed out in a different way. Ole Gunnar Solskjær has beforehand hinted that he was eager to signal the midfielder when he was within the United dugout.

As Gary Neville claimed final month, Rice is a ‘Manchester United participant’, the kind of participant that the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, together with Harry Kane, ‘would positively have signed a very long time in the past’.

Sadly, Arsenal’s £105m star is at present shining brightly underneath supervisor Mikel Arteta as a substitute, with United trying to make sure they signal a transformative midfielder this summer season.

Midfield goal agrees take care of Manchester United this summer season

For the fourth time this season, the Purple Devils performed away to Sunderland with out Casemiro of their beginning XI. That is the fourth time this season that they’ve did not win with out the Brazilian.

This absence solely additional highlights why INEOS should get issues proper in the case of succession planning this summer season, with present deputy Manuel Ugarte, 34, trying to step down himself after two memorable campaigns at Previous Trafford.

Elliot Anderson stays everybody’s precedence goal to switch Casemiro, however the Nottingham Forest star is considered near heading to the Etihad, with an eye-watering £120m price ticket being mooted.

With that in thoughts, a alternative participant is required and TEAMtalk experiences that INEOS may already be shut to creating an early summer season signing within the type of Atalanta’s Ederson.

In accordance with experiences, the Brazilian has already stated sure to a £100,000-a-week transfer to Manchester, topic to United making a proper method to the Serie A aspect.

Michael Carrick’s aspect are at present considered main the race to signal the 26-year-old, forward of Arsenal and Atletico Madrid, together with his beginning payment stated to be round €45m (about £38.9m).

Why Ederson might be Rice at Man United at Previous Trafford

Fernandes remains to be undoubtedly the Premier League’s star midfielder, with 19 assists this season, however Rice has change into one thing of a talisman in his personal proper at Arsenal, an enormous box-to-box presence in north London.

A weapon from set-pieces, the previous West Ham United man has additionally emerged as an outlet for his personal abilities, creating as much as 17 ‘huge probabilities’ this season. This ranks third within the checklist after Rayan Cherki (18) and naturally Fernandes (30).

However his key attribute stays his means to steal the ball, significantly this season as he averages 2.8 tackles and interceptions per sport and recovers the ball 4.9 instances per outing.

Therein, the similarities with the aforementioned Ederson actually present, with the South American returning to Italy and being hailed as ‘the very best defensive midfielder on this planet’, a real midfield machine.

In truth, the in-demand expertise has averaged 2.8 tackles and interceptions per sport to date in Serie A in 2025/26, though he’s simply behind Rice (4.4) when it comes to ball recoveries.

At simply 6ft tall, Rice might not be the bodily imposing participant, however just like the Three Lions star, he’s not simply surpassed, averaging simply 0.6 dribbles per sport this season, solely barely greater than Rice (0.4) within the Premier League.

For comparability, United’s man of the second, Casemiro, is dribbled previous 1.4 instances per sport, highlighting the nagging considerations about his declining mobility that persist regardless of his goalscoring brilliance.

What additionally works in Ederson’s favor is how neat he’s in possession. Whereas he might not be a big enchancment in his profession or as a passer, he boasts a good passing accuracy of 89%, nonetheless forward of Rice (87%) and Casemiro (81%).

He’s no slouch in assault both, scoring his second league aim of the season within the final sport towards AC Milan, and completed the 2024/25 marketing campaign together with his fourth league aim from enjoying deep in midfield.

Like Rice, he is a “quantity six” in a commerce, however he isn’t essentially locked into a selected place. He’s one other throwback midfielder who can affect developments all around the pitch, moderately than simply sitting quietly in entrance of the again 4.

Simply as Rice has supplied underneath Arteta, Ederson may present the mobility, dynamism and physicality that United’s midfield at present desperately wants.