Kagawa is likely to be sold if the Spaniard arrives for £37m.
The transfer of Chelsea playmaker Juan Mata to Manchester United for £37m will signal the end of Shinji Kagawa’s career at Old Trafford, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The Japan international has had a difficult 18 months with the Premier League champions since a £12m switch from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2012.
Since then Kagawa has struggled with injury and form and has been used sparingly by manager David Moyes this season.
The 24-year-old has made just 18 appearances this term and it’s well known that the attacking midfielder would welcome a return to Dortmund – a club where the player enjoyed great success.
Mata’s arrival would see Kagawa have a direct rival for a place in the starting XI and Moyes may decide to instead utilise the Japanese star as a makeweight in a transfer for either Ilkay Gundogan or Marco Reus.
United are keen on both the Dortmund aces as they try and bring in some creativity to bolster the club’s midfield.
Gundogan has been absent for much of this campaign due to a back injury, but the 23-year-old is exactly the sort of box-to-box midfielder that Moyes is desperate to sign.
Fellow German Reus is more of an attacking option, generally operating on the left wing and cutting inside to shoot at goal.
Signing Mata will be a great coup for the Red Devils and should help them in the pursuit of further acquisitions – such as the Yellow and Blacks’ duo – as it will show that despite being in seventh currently, they harbour much loftier ambitions.
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