Manchester United are considering shattering their record
transfer fee to sign Cesc Fábregas after Barcelona rejected their second bid of
£30m for the Spain midfielder.
United, who made the offer before Tito Vilanova resigned
as coach owing to ill health on Friday, were privately given the same response
as before – that the 26-year-old is "completely nontransferable".
The champions are weighing up whether to make what could
be their final play for their No1 target in the region of £35m – surpassing the
£30.75m they paid to sign Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur in 2008.
Barcelona are engaged in appointing Vilanova's
replacement, with the Gerardo Martino set to land the job. It remains to be
seen whether the Argentinian, whose coaching roles have included Paraguay and,
in his native country, Newell's Old Boys, will want Fábregas to remain at the
Camp Nou and become a pivotal part of his plans.
David Moyes said that United could walk away if the deal
drags on. Speaking in Tokyo on United's pre-season tour, the manager said that
Ed Woodward, the club's executive vice-president, was dealing with
negotiations. "My understanding is that Ed's had a response and he's
spoken with them and again we've made a second offer," he said. "But
Ed's dealing with that, rather than me personally here."
Asked if a juncture can be reached where it becomes
fruitless to continue, Moyes said: "I think a point does come but I think
when you are interested in good players you want to give it every opportunity
to materialise. And I'll do that. I'll hope that things can continue to move
forward. At this moment I can only tell you that Ed Woodward is working hard to
make the deals happen and we're hoping some of them will fall into place
shortly."
Moyes accepted that the longer United go on without
making any major signings this summer the more anxious fans become. "I can
understand that but there isn't any real update I can give you. But I can
understand why that might be the feeling," he said. "But I think
everybody had thought this might be the summer – with there being quite a few
changes, my new position, other managers at other clubs – that it might be that
the transfers are later in the month. I think that was always the thought I had
when I came into the job. And you've got to remember I only started the job on
1 July as well, so I've only been in this job for three weeks."
Moyes, who has been joined by Shinji Kagawa, Chris
Smalling and Ashley Young in Tokyo, is clear that United must move on from Sir
Alex Ferguson and enter the "David Moyes era". While always
respectful of Ferguson, the manager is intent on writing his own history as he
prepares United for their title defence.
To explain why he brought in Steve Round, Phil Neville,
Jimmy Lumsden and Chris Woods from Everton on his backroom staff, and made Ryan
Giggs player-coach, Moyes said: "I also needed it to be the David Moyes
era now and I had to take David Moyes' era and David Moyes' time so that meant
me taking some of my own people. But I couldn't do it without the help of Ryan
Giggs.
"Phil Neville had known a little bit at both clubs.
But more importantly he probably knew how I worked at Everton more than
Manchester United. He was young – him and Ryan are young, its really important
in this job that you also keep young, open-minded thoughts because you don't
want to get too old in your ways."
Moyes underlined his desire to succeed when it was put to
him that he may need six months or even a season for the side to become his.
"It is my team now. I have taken over, I'm in
charge," he said. "As I have said, I will use the ex-manager as much
as I can because of his knowledge but it is my team now and I have to take
responsibility for that. From day one, it is my team and I have to get on and
show that."
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