The story of Manchester United's transfer business, albeit no new signings have been made yet, has been player release clauses and how the club prepare to work around them.
Two players United have been strongly linked with are Matheus Cunha and Liam Delap. Following his contract extension at Wolves in February, Cunha has a £62.5million release clause that must be met. Delap, at Ipswich Town, will cost £30m.
Sources have told The Manchester Evening News that Cunha is 'optimistic' that a deal could play out. However, with the constant reports that United face financial restraints due to PSR and a lack of European money, the £62.5m needed to sign the attacker is rather steep.
Last summer, United did not pay anymore than £60m for any of their five signings under Erik ten Hag. Joshua Zirkzee had a release clause worth £36.5m at Bologna and United were able to sign him by paying the fee across instalments over three years.
The potential sales of Marcus Rashford, Antony and Jadon Sancho are all, hopefully, going to help United sign at least two new attackers this summer. But it's understood that the club are likely to attempt to split Cunha's fee across instalments, just like they did with Zirkzee.
Whilst Cunha, Delap, Victor Osimhen and other attackers continue to dominate the headlines, United do need to place some of their attention on other positions. Victor Lindelof and Christian Eriksen are expected to depart at the end of the season meaning at least one addition will be needed in their position.
Thankfully, in defence, United are not desperate for a ready-make, world-class centre-back. The signings of Matthijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro last year, alongside Lisandro Martinez and Harry Maguire, means United could do with one player to compete, rather than replace.
Dean Huijsen fits that mould perfectly. Since moving to AFC Bournemouth from Juventus, the centre-back has developed rather well and is now expected to seal a move away from the Vitality Stadium.
Like Cunha and Delap, and what seems to be so many players this summer, Huijsen is available through a release clause. It's believed he will be available for £50m at the end of the season and teams such as Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid are all circling.
German journalist Florian Plettenberg has revealed that the release clause comes with flexibility of being paid across three instalments. An agreement in the contract means that clubs can split the payment into three £22.1m payments, something that should be appealing to United.
Any question marks that United may struggle to compete with the elite teams wanting to sign Huijsen should be non-existent. Last summer, Yoro moved to Manchester despite firm interest from Madrid.
Huijsen has been immense this season and his arrival would give Amorim four capable centre-backs to compete for three spots and significantly strengthen the backline.
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