United will try to sign Fabio Coentrao again in the summer

Manchester United have become interested in Fabio Coentrao once again and they will try to sign him this summer. The English club were on the verge of landing him two seasons ago. It was at the end of August 2013. Real Madrid already had a replacement, Guilherme Siqueira, lined up. The Brazilian full-back (who was then at Granada) even “had a signed contract with Madrid for half an hour”, as Granada revealed back then. But everything stopped because United made an administrative mistake and they were not able to sign Coentrao (he was going to head to Old Trafford on loan with an option to buy). The Portuguese wanted to leave Madrid. Now United see Coentrao as the solution for a position in which they are short, despite signing Luke Shaw (19) for €35m last summer. The problem for the young left-back is that he has suffered from continuous injuries.

Madrid signed Coentrao (from Benfica) in the summer of 2011 for €30m. But during his period at the Bernabéu he has failed to nail down a regular first-team berth: he has only played 34% of the minutes possible with the European champions (6,946 minutes from a possible 20,090). In none of his four seasons in Madrid has he managed to play more than 45% of the minutes possible, even though he has played as a starter in many of the team’s important matches in recent times.

Coentrao started the Champions League final in Lisbon (he was replaced by Marcelo in the 59^th minute) and he also played from the start in the quarter-finals and semi-finals against Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively. He also started in the European Super Cup and in last year’s victorious Copa del Rey final against Barça (and also the defeat against Atlético). During José Mourinho’s time at the club, it was common to see him in the Champions League or in the Clásico matches (he came to play one, the 1-2 in the Copa, as a right-back).

Coentrao’s initial contract at the club lasted until 2017. In November 2013 he signed a new deal, which extended his contract by a year and increased his salary. And on July 5 last year, surprisingly, he signed a second contract renewal which ties him to the club until the summer of 2019. Those two renewals took place after Mourinho had left Madrid (and incidentally, his relationship with his compatriot ended poorly after he had turned up to training late after New Year’s Eve).

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