Ander Herrera

Ander Herrera

Manchester United prepare £40m double swoop for Bilbao's Ander Herrera and Roma's Daniele De Rossi
Manchester United are expected to trigger a €36 million (£30.7 million) release clause in Ander Herrera’s Athletic Bilbao contract after having a €30 million bid rejected for the playmaker identified by David Moyes as an alternative to Cesc Fabregas.
After seeing two bids for Fabregas rejected by Barcelona, following an aborted move for Spain Under-21 captain Thiago Alcantara earlier this summer, Moyes is now attempting to add three midfielders to his squad before Monday’s 11pm transfer deadline.

The United manager, having won his battle to keep Wayne Rooney at the club in the wake of two substantial offers from Chelsea, has stepped up his pursuit of reinforcements by also lodging a €12 million offer for Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi after testing Everton’s resolve with a £38 million combined bid for Marouane Fellaini and England left back Leighton Baines on Thursday.

Bilbao, Roma and Everton have all rejected United’s advances this week, but there is a confidence within Old Trafford that deals will be done before Monday evening.

However, despite Herrera’s release clause, Bilbao president Josu Urrutia has insisted that the Basque club, one of the few in Spain in strong financial health, are under no pressure to sell, even if United meet the 24-year-old’s valuation.

“Our club is different, in that it is based on feeling,” Urrutia said. “Our objective is not to make money. We received the offer last night, and we communicated [to the club in question] that we do not negotiate for our players. If a player is to leave, first he has to inform us that he wants to go and then his release clause has to be met.”