Maybe there was actually something to David de Gea’s message to Thiago after his U-21 Euro Championship hat trick.
Sky Italy’s Tancredi Palmeri, Graham Hunter of Sky Sports Revista, and Quim Domenech of Intereconomía TV in Barcelona all tweeted today that the want-away Barcelona midfielder is already in discussions for a new contract with Manchester United.
The transfer could move very quickly, especially if the Daily Mail is correct in their claim that the 21-year-old’s release clause is just £17 million ($26.2 million) and not the £77 million ($119.4 million) Barcelona had originally spread around. This, according to the Mail, is because he didn’t receive enough first-team action last season.
The report claims his contract stipulated Thiago must receive at least 30 minutes in 60% of his appearances, but he fell short of that in 15 of his 36 appearances. He averaged 52 minutes per appearance, but was used as a substitute 16 times.
The new revelation could cause Manchester United to act much quicker in an attempt to secure Thiago before other teams take advantage of the enormous cut-price deal.
Thiago Alcantara is already discussing the terms of his contract with Manchester United
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) June 20, 2013
The Mirror reports that Chelsea and Bayern Munich are in on the midfielder now that the new price has been set, but it seems David Moyes still holds the yellow jersey.