It is being reported that Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto has been in touch with Jose Mourinho and is open to a move to Manchester United this summer. The report states that Roberto is a huge admirer of the Portuguese manager and is willing to shift loyalties if Mourinho really wants him at United.
But Roberto will first have a chat with Barca manager Ernesto Valverde to see if the new manager can promise him first-team football throughout the next season. And if Sergi received a negative response then he will have no hesitation in moving to Manchester United.
But does Jose Mourinho really want to make Sergi Roberto his fourth signing of the summer?
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Well, if you ask us then, yes. Roberto is a La Masia product and has been tipped to achieve greatness by many people at the club. Even though the Catalonia International made his debut for Barca way back in 2010 as an 18-year-old but since then he has found it really difficult to cement a place in the starting eleven. But that had less to do with his abilities and more with Xavi and Iniesta’s dominance. But ever since Xavi left Barcelona, Sergi Roberto has been seeing much more game time and he has managed to make 96 appearances in the past two seasons.
But the biggest problem for Roberto is the fact that he played only 4 matches in the whole of last season where he was deployed in midfield – the area of his expertise. And he played as many as 28 games where he was right-back for Barcelona.
And it is this versatility of Roberto that can be put to great use by Mourinho. Apart from central midfield and right-back, the 25-year-old can only play as a winger as well as a full-back. Currently, not many teams across Europe have a player who manages to fit into such a variety of roles. And according to TransferMrkt, Roberto is valued at €25 million and if Mourinho manages to grab him somewhere close to that range, it will be nothing short of a steal.
