The Ins & Outs As Man United’s Transfer Plans Begin To Take Shape

Whilst the arrival of Juan Mata is to be announced today, the Spaniard is likely to only make up part of United’s transfer activity in this window.

With Anderson already gone, earlier in the week David Moyes confirmed that Manchester United could do more business and yesterday United’s transfer picture began to clear up with both Brazilian fullback Fabio and young winger Wilfried Zaha linked with moves to Cardiff.

Fabio had previously been linked with a move to German outfit Freiburg, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appears to be taking advantage of his United connections to jump to the head of the queue.

With a number of players linked with moves away from Old Trafford, what about those coming in?

Juan Mata from Chelsea is the most obvious, but could there be more? News today that Michael Carrick is set to be sidelined after picking up an ankle injury in Wednesday’s loss to Sunderland could force Moyes hand. The Telegraph believe that the injury could see United move for Colombian Fredy Guarin, not the best news considering his antics in Turin earlier in the week coupled with the fact Inter seem keen to offload the midfielder!

With Carrick suffering damage to ligaments in his right ankle, midfielder is likely to be out for a month, ruling him out of United’s clash with Arsenal as well as the first leg of United’s Champions League tie with Olympiakos. A move for Guarin could solve the problem and would kill two birds with one stone if The Sun’s Neil Custis is to be believed.

Custis claims that striker Javier Hernandez is intent on leaving Old Trafford after falling down the pecking order, putting his place in Mexico’s World Cup squad in jeopardy. Whilst Hernandez has nothing to worry about in regards to going to Brazil, his lack of playing time at club level has been something that he has complained about previously.

With Inter keen on a swap deal, taking the Mexican to the Italian capital in exchange for Guarin, United could solve both problems in one.