Summary Manchester United cannot afford to pay Fiorentina's £30 million asking price for Sofyan Amrabat, so they are pursuing a loan deal instead. United's director of football negotiations, Matt Hargreaves, has flown to Italy to try and complete a deal, but there is currently no agreement. Amrabat is known for his defensive abilities and was praised as the best midfielder in the 2022 World Cup by a Moroccan journalist.

As the Manchester United pursuit of Sofyan Amrabat heats up on transfer deadline day, director of football negotiations Matt Hargreaves has reportedly flown to Italy.

What is the latest transfer news on Man United and Sofyan Amrabat?

The Red Devils have been chasing the Fiorentina midfielder for some time but don't appear to be able to pay full price for the player.

Indeed, as per The Times, Man United "cannot afford to meet Fiorentina’s £30 million asking price" but they are trying to loan the Morocco international instead.

That same report notes how Amrabat himself doesn't even know what the future holds as he said this week: “If I go away, I don’t know . . . maybe I could stay."

As per The Athletic, the Premier League outfit did make a €2m (£1.7m) loan bid but it was unsurprisingly turned down by Fiorentina.

Read the latest Man United transfer news HERE…

But in a fresh update, shared by David Ornstein on Twitter, "Manchester United director of football negotiations Matt Hargreaves has flown to Italy" to try and complete a deal. However, there is "no agreement" between the clubs for the 27-year-old as of yet.

Interestingly enough, there were reports in the Manchester Evening News about a private jet which has been booked from Florence to arrive at Manchester Airport on Friday afternoon at 12.52pm (UK time).

That article also noted that: "United have not denied the possibility they have arranged the private jet".

And while, after Ornstein's latest update, it might seem unlikely that another flight would be booked quite so soon after Hargreaves' has arrived in Italy, as it is a private flight, it is possible the scheduled time could be pushed back to allow for protracted negotiations.

Now, in a further update from Fabrizio Romano, the player is "on his way in order to undergo medical tests as new Man Utd player after agreement reached."

How many goals has Sofyan Amrabat scored?

As per The Athletic, Hargreaves is a former executive at Adidas and was only appointed to his role at United in March, starting work this summer. So this will be one of the first major deals he would have been involved with for the club.

With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if he returns to Manchester alone, or if he can successfully complete a loan deal for the 27-year-old midfielder.

In Amrabat, United certainly won't be getting an attacking player. After all, in 107 games at his current club, he has scored just one goal, while also picking up only one assist. In fact, across his entire senior club career, he has only netted five times having made 228 appearances for four different teams.

However, the Red Devils should be landing a pretty feisty defensive midfielder if they can get this deal across the line. Indeed, during the 2022 World Cup, Moroccan journalist Amine El Amri called the player a "raging bull" when speaking to TalkSPORT.

"Sofyan Amrabat is a great footballer in addition to being a raging bull," they said. "I’m trying to be as objective as I can, but I think he’s been the best midfielder in this World Cup.

“I have nothing but respect for guys like Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Rodrigo De Paul and many others, but I think he’s been absolutely the best player in midfield in this World Cup.”