Thiago Alcantara will tell
Barcelona that he wants
to quit Camp Nou for
Manchester United . One
of the rising stars of
Spanish football has already agreed terms with
the Premier League champions and is prepared
to give notice of his decision to leave the club
he joined at 14 in imminent talks with Barca
officials.
Sources have said that United are confident of
completing a €18 million deal for the 22-year-
old despite late interest from Bayern Munich.
It is believed that Barcelona have privately given
up hope of persuading the graduate of the club’s
famous La Masia academy to stay despite giving
him assurances that he will have a bigger first-
team role in coming years.
Thiago, who scored a hat-trick for Spain in the
recent European Under-21 Championship final
against Italy, feels there are too many marquee
players blocking his path to a regular senior role
at Camp Nou.
The attacking midfielder has gone on holiday,
leaving his representatives and father, the
former Brazil World Cup winner Mazinho, to tell
Barcelona that he wants to leave.
Thiago has a contract that runs until 2015 but
his exit clause plummeted from €90 million to
€18m after he failed to participate for a
stipulated amount of minutes in the 2012-13
season. The buy-out clause is due to return to
€90m on August 1.
United are ready to take advantage of the
relatively low clause to make Thiago the first
major signing for new manager David Moyes,
who officially takes over at Old Trafford on
Monday.
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