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Fabrizio Tabone

The 5 players Solskjaer can buy with the reported £200 million transfer budget


According to several reports, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will have £200 million available to bring in players to the club, thus becoming the record number of funds available to a Manchester United manager.


Manchester United are in desperate need for a reshuffle in the squad, and with several players set to leave, such as Ander Herrera, Antonio Valencia and Juan Mata, these players need to be replaced in the near future.


So who can Manchester United bring in during the summer?


Kalidou Koulibaly (around £85 million from Napoli)

United have to prioritise bringing in a defensive partner for Victor Lindelof first and foremost. The team has struggled massively over the past few season when it comes to the centreback positions, failing to obtain a solid partnership since that of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.


The answer to plenty of United's problems lies in the form of Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly. The towering Senegalese defender has once again impressed in the Serie A with Napoli, making an average of 1.7 tackles every match, along with a very impressive average of 3.9 clearances in every Serie A game.


However, Koulibaly would come at a very high price, with him being on the radar of plenty of European clubs, along with him being just 27-years-old. If Manchester United get rid of some of their deadwood in defence, such as Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones, then they can definitely recover a minimum of £20 million, easing the financial pressure that would be set on the club if Koulibaly's transfer would go through.


Nicolas Pepe (around £40 million from Lille)

Lille have impressed a lot this season, recovering from what was a very disappointing 17/18 season where they finished 17th, to now this season looking set to finish second, especially after demolishing PSG 5-1 on Sunday. One of the key players in this huge turnaround has been Nicolas Pepe.


The 23-year-old Ivorian right winger has once again impressed in Ligue 1, and this season he has boosted his goalscoring very heavily. Last season, Pepe scored 13 goals in 36 Ligue 1 matches for Lille, yet this season, he has already score 19 goals in 32 Ligue 1 matches, a truly outstanding stat for a winger.


Manchester United are in desperate need for a natural right winger, having deployed Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Andreas Pereira, and even Romelu Lukaku in that position, yet none of them seem to make the cut. Pepe would be a perfect fit in Solskjaer's system with his pace and power on the wing, and he would be a much cheaper alternative to Jadon Sancho, with the Ivorian being valued at around £40 million, compared to Sancho's staggering £100 million valuation.


Tanguy Ndombele (around £50 million from Lyon)

Lyon have once again managed to replace plenty of talents that they offloaded in the past two seasons with even more talent, one of which being Tanguy Ndombele.


The defensive midfielder has been a mainstay for Lyon in all competitions, with his energetic defensive contributions often stealing the show. Whilst his most notable contributions came in the UEFA Champions League, some of which being against Manchester City in the group stages, he has also impressed a lot in Ligue 1, having an average pass accuracy of 89.1%, completing 1.9 tackles every match, whilst also contributing to the attack with six assists.


The French midfielder would be happy to sit in midfield and do most of the defensive work for Paul Pogba, with the team seemingly being built around Pogba for the future.


Nemanja Matic is on the decline, whilst Ander Herrera is seemingly on his way to PSG, and if Manchester United can get a minimum of £25 million for Matic, then some of the expenses caused by Ndombele's transfer will be covered.


Thomas Meunier (around £25 million/straight swap for Ander Herrera from PSG)

Manchester United badly need a right-back to take the extremely frustrating and ageing Ashley Young's place in the team. Whilst many would have thought that Diogo Dalot would be the player to do that, the Portuguese international has clearly lacked experience and will need some refining before he can become the first-choice right-back, even though there is clearly plenty of potential.


Meunier would be a much cheaper option to the highly-rated, yet extremely expensive, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, with the Belgian being valued at around £25 million, yet he could come to the club via a straight swap with Ander Herrera going the other way.


Meunier has had quite an injury plagued season for PSG, yet he has still managed to produce some stunning stats for a right-back. First of all, he makes an average of two tackles in every Ligue 1 match, and has had an average rating of 7.07 in Ligue 1 throughout the season. Secondly, the Belgian is an attacking threat, scoring three goals and assisting another three for PSG in the league.


With PSG having Dani Alves as a direct replacement for Meunier, the Belgian might be on his way out of Paris, and Manchester United should definitely try to go in for him, to at least serve as a first-team player until Dalot becomes a more trusted right-back.


Moussa Dembele (around £15 million from Lyon)

The fourth target from Ligue 1, Moussa Dembele has been a great performer for Lyon whenever he has been asked to do a job this season. This signing is the least out of the list that United may need, and the least probable, but is still a notable target.


Dembele arrived to Lyon from Celtic last summer, and has so far scored 12 goals and assisted another five in just 27 Ligue 1 appearances, with plenty of those appearances coming from the bench. Manchester United might not need a new striker as they have Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford and even Anthony Martial to play that role, but in the past, plenty of teams have had three or four strikers in their squad, and at the low price of just £15 million, Dembele would be a steal.


Do you agree with the list above? Will Solskjaer be getting his much-needed transfer funds for the summer? Whatever the case, he will have to make plenty of changes to what is, a very inconsistent squad.

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