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Charlie Nicholas tells Manchester United to complete £70m deal to kick-start major rebuild
MANCHESTER UNITED should look to sell David de Gea if they can get around £70million for the Spanish goalkeeper.
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That is the opinion of Sky Sports pundit and former Arsenal star Charlie Nicholas.
De Gea has had a wretched few weeks for Manchester United, making a series of high-profile mistakes.
The 28-year-old is out of contract at United at the end of next season and is said to want a huge wage increase to extend his stay.
Nicholas believes United, whose top-four hopes hang by a thread, need up to seven new signings this summer.
I would take the money because this is a major rebuild
And he reckons raising money by the sale of David de Gea would be wise business.
Asked if he would sell the goalkeeper if £70m was offered, Nicholas said: “I would take it yeah, I would take it.
“Man United need a massive, massive turnaround of players.
“They might be one of the global giants, but that [rebuild] is going to cost an absolute fortune.
“These Americans are putting money in but they’re not always overly ambitious about putting too much money in.
“It might damage their dividends and all these financial issues that come up.
“And then they’re going to have to trust Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, or the buying machines within the club, to say ‘where is this money going to go to?’.
“Now, I’m talking seven or eight players Manchester United need.
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“They might be able to bring in two or three of the youngsters because we’ve seen a little touch of them in the PSG game when they got through.
“They have just drifted off the screen at the moment, so he’s maybe trusting that.
“But I would take the money because this is a major rebuild.”