If Manchester United are in advanced talks to sign Seamus Coleman, it must be a different one to the player who has so impressed at Everton this season.
As he looks to transform the fortunes of the outgoing champions, it wouldn’t be a surprise if David Moyes adds a number of new faces to his United side next season. In defence alone, for example, Nemanja Vidic will leave for Internazionale in the summer, whilst Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra will also be out of contract at the end of this term.
But the focus has been on the right fullback position over the past couple of days, despite Rafael da Silva still highly rated at Old Trafford and Phil Jones and Chris Smalling able to deputise. But according to The Mirror, Moyes is keen to return to his former club to pluck Republic of Ireland international Coleman for a fee of around £15million.
Indeed, according to the tabloid, he has already been given the green light by the board to strike a deal for the 25-year-old, and the club are in advanced talks to do so. David McDonnell, who wrote the article, goes as far as to suggest that ‘some Old Trafford insiders claim an outline agreement with Everton has already been agreed.’
However, this is clearly news to Toffees manager Roberto Martinez. The Spanish coach, who has enjoyed a fine debut season in charge of the Merseyside club since succeeding Moyes, insists that if United are in talks with a Seamus Coleman, it is not the same Seamus Coleman who is under contract at Everton until the summer of 2018.
“It must be a different Seamus Coleman because we’ve never had any discussions with anyone,” he said. “I think the truth is that Seamus has been having a very good season and we want that to continue and hopefully in the next 10 games he can continue with the levels he’s shown and developing. He’s becoming a very, very important player at Everton.
“Obviously we want Seamus here for a long, long time. So it’s nothing to comment on. We’ve got a clear strategy of how we want to keep this group together, we’ve got a new generation coming through (and) we’re going to keep the senior players for as long as we can. And it’s not going to change because of media speculation.”
Moyes is responsible for luring Coleman to England, having paid just £60,0000 to sign him from League of Ireland side Sligo Rovers in 2005. The player, who has won 21 international caps for his country, has gone on to make over 130 first team appearances for the Toffees in all competitions, with seven of his 14 goals coming in the current season.
