Diego Godin is back on Manchester United’s shopping list

Manchester United are expected to go shopping in the winter transfer window after a lackluster start to their Premier League campaign this season.

Manchester United have been looking to bolster their defensive line but failed to add a central defender in the summer transfer window. In spite of failing to do so, Jose Mourinho is still optimistic that Ed Woodward will open the cheque book, especially after the Red Devils’ prosaic start to the season.

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Despite having names like Harry Maguire, Toby Alderweireld and Diego Godin on their wish list, the Premier League giants did not succeed in materializing their interest by actually bidding and going forward with the negotiations as any other interest club would do to their targets.

Now that they have let the opponents throw in the sponge past David De Gea 21 times since the start of the Premier League, it is a must for them to sign a defender and it looks like they will test Atletico Madrid and Diego Godin’s resilience once again, according to a report published by The Sun.

The 32-year-old was on Manchester United’s radar in the summer and the Red Devils were willing to trigger his release clause of 22.5 million pounds. However, the Uruguayan rejected advances from Jose Mourinho and stayed put at Atletico Madrid who are as usual doing well at the back with Godin being an important figure.

The Uruguay international played all of his nation’s five matches in the World Cup this year at Russia and has been indispensable at Atletico Madrid in recent years. However, he becomes a free agent in the next summer and Manchester United will look to nab him on a pre-contract agreement which he can discuss from January 1.

Los Rojiblancos were expected to offer a deal to the central defender after he said no to the Old Trafford based outlet, but his stay at the Wanda Metropolitano has not yet been elongated and it does not even look like there have been concrete talks between Atletico and the player’s representatives as yet.

In spite of his age, Diego Godin is well in the top names of the world’s best defenders and is arguably second to only Sergio Ramos in La Liga Santander. His exploits are visible in the league and continental games week in and week out in an Atletico side based on a defensive philosophy under Cholo Simeone.

Given that the Red Devils have been linked with Milan Skriniar, they could sacrifice on getting Godin if they manage to recruit the Inter man. However, the Atletico Madrid defender should be prioritized over Chelsea’s Gary Cahill.