Man Utd’s Ederson Transfer Stalls Over Knee Injury Concern

Manchester United’s pursuit of Ederson has hit a sharp bend in the road, but the deal is not dead yet.

United had shaken hands on a £35million fee with Atalanta, with a further £3.8m in add-ons, and agreed personal terms on a four-year contract for the 27-year-old midfielder six weeks ago. The move was pencilled in for early July. It looked routine, almost boringly straightforward for a club that has turned transfer sagas into an art form.

Then the medical stepped in.

Ederson, a late call-up to Brazil’s World Cup squad, completed part of his medical while on duty in the United States, before undergoing additional checks after Brazil’s last-16 defeat to Norway. Those tests highlighted concerns linked to a knee injury he suffered last season, and what had been a clean, simple transaction suddenly became tangled.

The issue is not whether United like the player. They do. They still want him at Old Trafford. But the numbers, and the structure of the deal, are now under review.

United are expected to return to the table and attempt to renegotiate the agreement with Atalanta, potentially reshaping the payment schedule or the conditions of the add-ons to reflect the medical findings. The club has not closed the door on Ederson; it has simply stepped back from the threshold to take a harder look.

On the other side, the mood feels very different. In Italy, the message is that the transfer is off, with Atalanta said to be readying a new five-year contract for the Brazilian. From their perspective, the hesitation from Manchester United has reopened a door they thought was shutting. Keep a key midfielder and tie him down long term? That is a powerful counter-move.

United, though, have insulated themselves. They have already agreed a £50m deal with Chelsea for 22-year-old Andrey Santos, another Brazilian midfielder, and drawn up a shortlist of alternatives should Ederson slip away completely. Among those options is Wolves’ Joao Gomes.

Gomes’ own future has been a subplot in this midfield carousel. He was expected to join Atletico Madrid, who themselves had been in for Ederson before walking away and signing Morten Hjulmand from Sporting instead. Atletico’s switch of target has left Gomes back on the market, and he is widely expected to leave Molineux this summer.

That keeps the door ajar for United. If they decide the risk around Ederson is too great, Gomes remains a live option, a ready-made pivot to a different profile of midfielder without losing time in the market.

For now, Ederson sits in the awkward middle ground that defines so many modern transfers: not done, not dead, just difficult. United must decide whether to push through with a reworked package for a player they clearly value, or walk away and throw their weight behind Santos and a fresh pursuit of Gomes.

The clock is ticking on more than one career here.