Manchester United Transfer News: Arturo Vidal Free to Decide Juventus Future

Juventus general manager Giuseppe Marotta will allow midfielders Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba to decide their own futures despite the club turning away Manchester United's advances for the Chilean during the summer.

Rob Dawson of the Manchester Evening News reports Marotta saying that such a stubborn resistance to the Red Devils' advances was only possible due to the player's willingness to stay.

However, if Vidal suddenly signalled intent to join United, Marotta confessed the door will be opened:

"

We didn’t want to give Vidal to Manchester United, end of story. Besides, our rapport with his agent Fernando Felicevich is good.

It always depends on the player. If Pogba and Vidal are happy to stay, then we will keep them.

"

Vidal's potential move to Manchester United was one of the main talking points of what was a long summer of transfer rumour and speculation, but the Chilean gave little away about his own personal desires.

Seen as one of the best and most powerful midfield players in Europe at the present time, it is not difficult to see why Manchester United were believed to be so keen on arranging a deal given their own paucity of central midfield options.

For all the attention and media bluster, though, Vidal was unmoved come the end of the summer in what has to be considered a major success for the Bianconeri. Financially, they cannot compete with the might of United but were still able to retain a player who has been key to their successes in recent seasons.

Vidal has been in strong form for Juve early this campaign, scoring three times in just six Serie A starts since a summer in which he rushed his recovery from injury to represent Chile at the World Cup.

In the summer, it was reported by Sky Sports that it was these knee injuries that were preventing new United boss Louis van Gaal from committing to the player. United, meanwhile, consistently denied contact with the Italian side.

Marotta's latest words, though, would appear to suggest that talks did indeed take place between the two parties in line with the general reporting throughout the transfer window.

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

United fans will be understandably disappointed that they were unable to complete such a deal, particularly in light of Daley Blind's recent injury, reported here by the Press Association (via ESPN FC), adding to their severe issues in midfield.

Vidal, though, remains in Italy and is on course to challenge for what would be a fourth consecutive Serie A title with Juventus. The question remains, then, as to whether United will continue to push for his services in January.

Given their current injury concerns and lack of momentum in the Premier League, such an attempt would undoubtedly be a boost to Van Gaal as he seeks to set things straight once more at Old Trafford.