Manchester United Transfer Rumours: Pros and Cons of Latest Transfer Targets

Which Arsenal forward is Manchester United interested in? Will the Red Devils sign another one of Borussia Dortmund's best players? Will Sir Alex Ferguson sign a Danish midfield maestro? 

Which player could threaten Patrice Evra's starting position in the team? Is Lucas Moura a good fit for United? 

This article will list the pros and cons of the latest transfer targets linked with United. 

Robin van Persie

According to Darren Lewis and David McDonnell at Mirror Football, Sir Alex Ferguson is confident in signing Robin van Persie from Arsenal. 

Lewis and McDonnell are either in the know or are just filling up the website's space. It's probably the latter because if Ferguson isn't willing to give Dimitar Berbatov a chance, van Persie won't be any different. 

Pros

Van Persie was extremely productive last season as he accumulated a goals-scored-or-created-per-game average of 1.1. 

He could form a lethal partnership with Wayne Rooney.

Cons

If Chicharito had taken the same amount of shots as van Persie, the Mexican would've scored 37 league goals. His 4.7 shots per goal is more efficient than the Dutchman's 5.8. 

Ferguson isn't going to take a chance on an injury-prone van Persie, who has only played 30 league games or more once in the past eight seasons. 

Robert Lewandowski

According to the Daily Mail, Borussia Dortmund forward Robert Lewandowski is open to a Premier League move, which opens the door to Manchester United. 

Pure speculation on the Daily Mail's part because Dortmund won't let Lewandowski go this season. 

Pros

He is an all-round forward: He can poach goals, strong enough to hold the ball up, solid in the air and can create for his teammates.

He is still only 23 years old, so he can develop into something special.

Cons

United don't need forwards because they have Chicharito and Danny Welbeck. 

It makes no sense to pair Lewandowski with Shinji Kagawa because the Japanese international doesn't like the Polish forward. 

Last season, after months of poor body language towards Lewandowski, Kagawa finally confirmed what most had suspected during an interview with Nikkei (via Goal.com):

"

Lewandowski's game is purely focused on trying to score himself, rather than playing together with his teammates. He never looks around him for players who are in a better position than him. That's why I hardly get the ball from him. There's nothing you can do about that, though. That's simply the type of player he is. He has scored 20 times, and I have 13 goals to my name. The only difference is that he doesn't cooperate with other team members. I am convinced that he would score more goals if he made better use of me on the pitch.

"

Christian Eriksen

Sport1 (via caughtoffside.com) reported that Christian Eriksen may move to Manchester United. 

However, Eriksen's agent confirmed that his client wanted to stay with Ajax. 

Pros

Eriksen is an excellent prospect with exemplary technique. If he continues to develop, he should become a world-class midfielder. Ajax rely heavily on his ability to orchestrate the midfield and to create shots for his teammates. 

This was on show during a 5-0 win over Heerenveen, where Eriksen masterfully controlled the game for Ajax following Brian Vandenbussche's early red card. 

Cons

Filip Duricic is just as good as Eriksen and will be cheaper. 

Why would United sign Eriksen when Sir Alex Ferguson has Shinji Kagawa? 

Eriksen has a habit of disappearing when the going gets tough: average in both games against Manchester United, nonexistent against Real Madrid, missing in action against Brazil and severely underperformed during Euro 2012. 

Leighton Baines

The Press Association reported Sir Alex Ferguson as saying: 

"

In the last five years, Patrice has played an average of 45-50 games, which is phenomenal. But because he is never injured the opportunities haven't been there for Fabio, who needs to play because he has enormous ability. With him at QPR for a year, we are a little bit short in that department.

"

Ferguson didn't mention Patrice Evra's habit of being caught in no man's land whilst defending. The Frenchman is in decline, and United must sign a replacement. 

Leighton Baines surely is the No. 1 transfer target at left-back for Manchester United. 

Pros

Arguably the best left-back in the Premier League. He is Mr. Consistent and will generally always give 6.5/10 performances. 

Cons

David Moyes will aim to inflate Baines' transfer fee to the nth degree. The Englishman won't be a long-term solution, so Ferguson should look to sign Ricardo Rodríguez. 

Lucas Moura

São Paulo have rejected Manchester United's £30 million bid for Lucas Moura, according to John Edwards at the Daily Mail. 

Pros 

He has a mesmerizing dribbling ability, not to mention very high upside. On his day, he can destroy a team, as Uruguay found out during the 2011 South American Youth Championship final.

Cons

Lacks the killer edge that Neymar has. The Santos forward still scores or creates even when he's playing badly. 

Lucas went missing when São Paulo needed him in games against Libertad. He looked pedestrian whenever he was given a chance by Mano Menezes.

Unless United change their formation to a 4-3-3, there's no point signing Lucas because he's at his best in a wide forward role. 

£30 million for an unproven talent is foolhardy spending. 

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