Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly lining up a $46 million bid to bring both Javier Hernandez and Marouane Fellaini to White Hart Lane.
The Red Devils duo have apparently been told they can leave Old Trafford by new manager Louis van Gaal and both are available for immediate transfer. Hernandez started in United’s opening day defeat to Swansea City but was substituted, while Fellaini came on as a late sub after playing a peripheral role during preseason.
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According to multiple reports in the UK, Spurs’ new boss Mauricio Pochettino is keen to hand both Hernandez and Fellaini a fresh start in North London after the duo endured horror campaigns last season.
Mexican striker Hernandez, known commonly as ‘Chicharito’, started just six PL games last term and Pochettino has been a long-term admirer of his predatory instincts. As for Fellaini, the Belgian international has struggled to shake off the $50 million price tag around his neck after United’s former boss David Moyes brought him in from Everton last summer.
Chicharito, 26, has scored 59 goals in 152 appearances for United but his role as a supersub has since his stature diminish over the last 12 months. Spurs are certainly looking short of goals with misfiring Spaniard Roberto Soldado and veteran Emmanuel Adbayor their only out-and-out strikers, while Argentina attacker Erik Lamela continues his slow start to life at the Lane.
Fellaini is the more intriguing part of the deal here. With a loan move to Serie A side Napoli supposedly lined up for the lanky Belgian international midfielder, United are keen to instead recoup some of the cash they splashed for him last summer. If this deal goes through, in theory they will get almost all of the money back they paid for Fellaini, plus throw in Chicharito as a bonus for Spurs. With the potential for Fellaini to play alongside fellow Belgians Nacer Chadli and Jan Vertonghen at Tottenham, could the bushy haired midfielder return to past glories with a fresh start? Fellaini’s struggles, which included zero goals from central midfield, coupled with United’s awful seventh-placed finish last term and the demise of Moyes as manager, became a symbol of the dark days at Old Trafford. If he moves on, not many tears would be shed by fans of the Red Devils.
Both Fellaini and Hernandez would strengthen Tottenham’s squad and with van Gaal keen to move them on to bring in some new signings of his own, this seems like the ideal situation for both clubs and both players.