£30 million rated Roma defender Mehdi Benatia will arrive in England soon for talks over a move to Manchester United. Sky Sources understand the two clubs are close to agreeing terms on a deal that would see the Moroccan international come to the Premier League. Louis Van Gaal has signalled out the 27-year-old as key in solving United's defensive crisis which forced the Old Trafford boss to hand youngster Tyler Blackett his first-team debut in the 2-1 opening day home defeat by Swansea. An injury to Jonny Evans and a failure so far to replace Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic from last season's squad has left the Red Devils looking particularly thin and vulnerable in defence. It's not the first time Benatia has been linked to a move to Manchester this summer, although the previous link was over a switch to the Blue side of the city. Reportedly, Man City baulked at Roma's £30 million valuation and decided if they were going to spend big on a new centre-half, they would spend that kind of money on Eliaquim Mangala from Porto, a deal which was confirmed last week. Born in France, Benatia has spent most of his career in Italy's Serie A. He moved from Clermont to Udinese in 2010 and only moved to Roma last summer, impressing with his defensive play but also his eye for a goal, scoring 5 in 33 appearances to help Roma finish second. His move to Roma cost the Italian giants 13.5 million but his valuation looks to have increased given the reported interest in his services and the fact he still has four years to run on his current deal.
Matt Holmes is the co-founder of What Culture, formerly known as Obsessed With Film. He has been blogging about pop culture and entertainment since 2006 and has written over 10,000 articles.
