Manchester United Reportedly Set to Rival Liverpool in Jorginho Race

Manchester United will reportedly go head-to-head with Liverpool for the capture of Napoli star Jorginho.

According to the Daily Star's Jeremy Cross, the Red Devils will start out with an offer of £50 million for the 26-year-old as they're "desperate" to bring in another midfielder this summer.

United boss Jose Mourinho has had the Italy international scouted on a number of occasions this season and "knows he can blow the Reds out of the water when it comes to a transfer fee and wages."

The Red Devils are eager to replace Michael Carrick, who will be 37 in the summer and has missed the majority of the campaign with a heart condition.

Football writer Liam Canning believes Jorginho would be an excellent choice to succeed the Englishman:

Indeed he would, as Jorginho is a superb player from a similar mould.

The midfielder uses his remarkable distribution and intelligence to orchestrate play from deep and dictate matches. He has the vision and ability to pick out his team-mates with metronomic reliability and carve out opportunities for them, too.

According to Squawka, Jorginho has maintained an 89 per cent passing accuracy in Serie A this season and created 32 chances in 23 games.

He has also pulled off 39 interceptions, which demonstrates his ability to read the game not only with the ball at his feet but when the opposition have possession, too.

Jorginho would work well alongside Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba. The former could focus on shielding the back four, while ahead of him the latter would have more freedom to create.

Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe believes Jorginho would be an outstanding asset to the Premier League:

United have the greater financial muscle and an almost unrivalled pull in the English top flight, but Liverpool's exciting project under Jurgen Klopp may well hold plenty of appeal as well.

Jorginho would be a marvellous acquisition for either, and he has plenty of years left in him at the top level—£50 million would be a reasonable price to pay in today's market, but it may not be enough.