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Man Utd given the all clear to sign £70m World Cup star

The 2018-19 Premier League season is little more than two weeks away with Manchester United kicking off the campaign against Leicester City at Old Trafford on Friday 10 August.

So far this summer Jose Mourinho has been relatively quiet during the transfer window, only bringing in central midfielder Fred, young full-back Diogo Dalot and backup goalkeeper Lee Grant.

However, it does sound as though a move to sign left-back Alex Sandro from Juventus could happen before the transfer window slams shut on Thursday 9 August.

On top of this we continue to be linked to a number of centre-backs and right wingers in particular; the two other positions the boss wants to address before the start of the new campaign.

One right winger that has been linked to us time and time again is Chelsea’s Willian.  The 29-year-old previously worked under Jose at Stamford Bridge.  And we have now been given a clear path to sign the Brazilian international as Barcelona have pulled out in their pursuit following the signing of Malcom on Tuesday.

Despite the appointment of Maurizio Sarri as the new Chelsea manager last week, it is still being reported that Willian wants to leave West London.

With Barcelona out of the race we would just need our Premier League rivals to accept an offer for the 2018 World Cup star, and Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo are now reporting that we are prepared to meet Chelsea’s asking price for the winger.

However, that fee could be as much as £70 million if reports earlier this month are anything to go by.  Chelsea certainly aren’t going to make it cheap or easy for us to land our target and given that the player is 29 I wonder if Jose Mourinho will look for better value elsewhere.

Last season the Portuguese coach used Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard among others down the right wing and never settled on a single player, so bringing in a player to play regularly this season is certainly on his agenda.

There’s no doubt Willian would be a fine signing for us as he’s proven himself in the Premier League.  He works hard off the ball to win back possession for his side, has pace to offer down the wing and gets among the goals.