Manchester United, Barcelona transfer news 2015: Utd favored to sign Pedro if he departs Nou Camp

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Barcelona forward Pedro Eliezer Rodríguez Ledesma might be on the move this summer after getting limited playing minutes last season with Barcelona heavily utilizing the attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior.

Among the clubs that have shown great interest in Pedro are Manchester United and Chelsea.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is looking for a striker to play alongside Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, and James Wilson after letting go of Robin van Persie who joined Fenerbache and not making Radamel Falcao's loan permanent, ESPN reported.

In a report by Talksports.com, European football expert Andy Brassell believes United are frontrunners in signing Barca's Pedro.

"Manchester United are the front runners to sign Pedro. Chelsea are not going to follow through on their interest," Brassell shared with Hawksbee and Jacobs.

"He would move for around £22m. Pedro signed a new contract which substantially brought down his release clause. It was around €150m before. It makes a lot of sense for him to move to Manchester United with the sort of football Louis van Gaal wants to play," Brassell discussed.

He added, "You could have Pedro on the right and Memphis Depay on the left. United have been linked with a lot of strikers but, given that Rooney is going to start and Hernandez is on the bench, there is not a lot of point buying another striker. They don't need someone to play with Rooney because that's not how Van Gaal plays. They need people to play in a 4-3-3 formation."

Pedro could be Manchester United's fifth signing this offseason after they acquired forward Memphis Depay, defender Matteo Darmian and midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin.

Fellow Barcelona forward Suarez shared with Marca his thoughts about Pedro's current situation.

"Pedro's thing is an individual decision. He's had many years at the club, he has won many titles and his decision will be respected. But as a team-mate, obviously, I want Pedro to stay because of the importance that he has on a group level," Suarez stated.