Don't Miss

Man Utd plot late surprise swoop on Arsenal – reports

By mac14 on February 1, 2016

Manchester United are plotting a late move to sign out-of-favour Arsenal full-back Mathieu Debuchy on loan for the rest of the season, according to the Mirror.

Debuchy has fallen behind Hector Bellerin in Arsene Wenger’s pecking order and is expected to leave on loan before tonight’s 11pm transfer deadline in order to get more first team football ahead of the European Championships this summer.

Aston Villa have been leading the race for his signature in recent weeks but the deal has been stalling due to Debuchy’s £60,000-a-week wages on top of Arsenal asking for a £1.5m loan fee.

Talks are continuing with the Midland’s club but it looks like Villa have some late competition with the Mirror claiming that Manchester United are lining-up a shock move for Debuchy during the closing stages of the window.

Louis van Gaal is currently without five defenders, including Antonio Valencia, Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo, and the Dutchman has been forced to field youngsters in the full-back slots in recent games.

Debuchy would obviously give United an experienced international to fill-in at right-back during the second half of the season but would Wenger be prepared to do business with a direct rival? I doubt it very much.

Why on earth would we do them a favour? There are plenty of other clubs interested in Debuchy and we’re not desperate to get him off the books, so I think we’ll politely tell United where to go if they do come calling today.