United Chasing Athletic Bilbao Duo Javi Martinez & Llorente

zocoss SG

According to a report in AS, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is eager to add Athletic Bilbao duo Fernando Llorente and Javi Martinez to his squad in the winter transfer window.

The report reads that Ferguson has had enough of the disappointing performances of Dimitar Berbatov in Manchester and that he's ready to offload the Bulgarian international in the near future. Clubs such as Juventus and Bayern Munich are believed to be keeping tabs on Berbatov.

Ferguson supposedly sees the 25-year-old Llorente as the perfect addition to his squad should Berbatov leave the club and United are ready to make a move for the highly rated Spain international.

Llorente is not the only Bilbao player who has attracted the interest of the joint Premier League table toppers though. United are also believed to be interested in signing 22-year-old midfielder Martinez.

United are apparently set to make a €41 million offer for the Athletic Bilbao stars, but it remains to be seen whether the Basque side are willing to cash in on Llorente and Martinez just yet.

Additionally, Manchester face stiff competition in the race for the duo's signatures. Both Llorente and Martinez have been linked with Real Madrid in the past couple of months.

iceFatboy SG

oh no, RM... gone..

CKeer SG

oh no, RM... gone..

I believe Real Madrid has too many midfielders and Kaka has not yet featured this season. Gago, the 2 Diarras (Mahamadou and Lassana), Granero, Pedro Leon and Sergio Canales are still warming the bench with the likes of Di Maria, Xabi Alonso, Metsut Ozil, Sami Khedira fighting for start. Royston Drenthe was farmed out on loan at Hercules.

And also, up front they already have Ronaldo, Benzema, Higuain, surely they do not need Llorente?

Their problem, for me, is the lack of backup for Casillas (Dudek is wayyyy pass expiry) and their Left-Back Marcelo, who seems to be more interested to attack then to defend. Raul Albiol and Ezequiel Garay are too good for the bench though.