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United launch “take it or leave it” bid for top target

web-fabgregas-gettyDuring the week David Moyes had seemed ready to give up his hopes of signing Cesc Fabregas by moving onto contingency plans, namely Luka Modric and Marouane Fellaini, but today United are set to launch a third, and hopefully final, offer for the Barcelona midfielder, in the hope of making him the first world class signing of the Moyes’ era.

United’s strategy in the transfer window this summer has increasingly resembled a drunken man desperately trying to force his way through a closed door, despite being told multiple times that the door is, indeed, locked and that the home owner has no intentions whatsoever of letting anybody in.

Having a £26m and a £30m offer both politely but firmly rejected, United looked to have lost out in their bid to land the former Arsenal captain, but today’s Daily Mail does its best to encourage United fans that all hope is not lost as they claim that Fabregas “has told friends he would be open to the possibility of joining United and is keen to link up once more with former Arsenal team-mate Robin van Persie.”

Depending on the tabloid, over the last couple of weeks Fabregas has contradicted himself with his friends a couple of times, and the Mail’s claims seem to have rather shaky foundations. However, the paper goes on to claim, rather more logically, that, should United fail with their third bid, David Moyes would then opt for either Marouane Fellaini or Luka Modric which, considering the season kicks off in 16 days, could well be a case of “too little, too late”.

The Mirror reports that United are ready to make a “take it or leave it” bid for Cesc Fabregas for a fee thought to be in the region of £35m plus add-ons, which will be submitted by the end of the week, despite the fact that Barcelona have made abundantly clear they’re not interested in parting ways with the 26-year-old.

Barca, continues the Mirror, “have indicated they will be forced to turn down any offer from the English club, because of the fiendishly complicated clauses agreed when they bought the player from Arsenal in 2011,” however they might allow the former Arsenal captain to buy out his own contract for a set fee, which would by-pass the clause that gives Arsenal the option to sign him for £25m, should Barcelona decide to sell him.

Unfortunately for United, Barca are thought to the set the buy-out price at £48m, which would leave United a long way off from landing their target, considering that Moyes would have to fork out £18m more than United’s club record transfer fee – the £30.8m Fergie paid for Dimitar Berbatov in 2008.

Dan