Transfer Roundup: Longstaff, James, Dybala, Dembele, De Ligt

So, after a hugely disappointing season, this is proving to be easily the most intriguing transfer window since Sir Alex left in 2013.

It looks like the aim of transforming the team is being taken seriously after a major pushback from the fans. The board are listening, appear to have taken on board the criticism, and are making offers for exactly the types of players that United need and have been badly lacking in recent years.

The only unfortunate thing in all of this mess is how the side has been allowed to decline so much, and the fact that we are not able to offer Champion's League football, which puts us at a huge disadvantage compared to the likes of Liverpool, City, Real, Barca, and so on.

If that means we have to throw money at the problem in order to secure players, that is what we are going to have to do, in transfer fees, agent fees, and player wages. This is the problem with not investing on the pitch - we now have to pay a premium for our failure to invest in the past, just to catch up.

Anyway, here's a round up of some of the big reports and rumours I have seen in the past few days.....

Moussa Dembele

Lyon forward Demele is on United's radar. The player has experience of playing in the UK, having played in the Scottish PL for Celtic, and at 22, is a great age to join the team long term. He's scored 23 goals in 51 appearances for the French side, which is a decent return.

Daniel James

Welsh winger Daniel James is a name that has been talked about for a couple of weeks now. The 21 year old Swansea player is said to be the subject of a £15 million offer, and it is this type of player, that is young, not the finished article, but could bring hunger and enthusiasm, that tells me United are doing the right things.

They can't base their transfer strategy around just buying big name players, so looking in the Championship and lower down the league for quality young players is a good way to go. Meanwhile, Robbie Savage reckons we should move heaven and earth to sign Aston Villa's Jack Grealish ahead of him.

Sean Longstaff

Longstaff is another player whose name has been doing the rounds for the past couple of weeks. But it's now looking like both the club and the player want him to stay put. He's only made 13 appearances, putting the midfielder on the edge of the first team, with United said to be on the verge of a £25 million bid. Whether or not he becomes the player that we need remains to be seen, but it's good that we're going for this type of player.

Paulo Dybala

The Paulo Dybala transfer saga continues. The Argentinian striker would be a great addition to the team, and he's been heavily linked with us. However, his has said he is going to stay.

“Juventus must make its choices with the coach that will come. But society knows it, next year I want to stay here.I have a lot of respect for this shirt and for these fans, and because of this I will only talk about Juventus, not about other teams, because that seems to me a lack of respect.”

However his brother reckons he is likely to leave Juve, although it's not clear where he will go.

De Ligt

This is one of the transfers I'm most excited about. United have offered the 19 year old defender a huge contract to draw him from Ajax. De Ligt has got the world at his feet one of the best defenders in the world at such a young age - he could serve United for a decade. 

They've bid £236,000 a week, which is a whopping sum such a young player, but that's the market we are currently in. Got to hope we can draw him, following a rich tradition of Dutch players that we've had over the years, including Stam, Van Nistelrooy, and Van Der Sar.