Manchester United have so far been linked with midfielders, defenders, and strikers during the transfer window 2014. However, the transfer deadline day brought up a major surprise after United were linked with an offer for Sampdoria goalkeeper Sergio Romero. The 27-year-old spent the last season on loan at Monaco. It is reported that he is unhappy at the Italian club and is looking for a move elsewhere. The Argentine number one goalkeeper is someone who can provide strong competition to David de Gea.

The Spaniard faced a lot of competition from Lindegaard a few years ago, but the Danish goalkeeper is widely expected to leave Old Trafford at least in January. As a result, a top competitor for the Spaniard is thought to be on the priority for manager Louis van Gaal, who is yet to win his first match as the United manager. There are reports about an offer on deadline day for the 27-year-old goalkeeper, but Sergio Romero has confirmed that he does not know anything about the offer from United. The Premier League outfit, though, were not the only parties interested in signing the goalkeeper, as Portuguese club Benfica are also thought to have made an offer.

Sergio Romero reportedly rejected an offer from Benfica by demanding more money, but the player has quashed those rumours. “I’ve had two or three possibilities but none of them were positively concluded. I’ve not asked more money to go to Benfica and I’ve read I would have refused United. But in your opinion, there is someone able to refuse one of the world’s top club? I want to show my value here, so I’ll be able o find my space. I’ve spoken with the president, the sporting director and coach Sinisa Mihajilovic, who told me that should I do good things, he will give me an opportunity,” said Romero.

In order to overcome the disappointment of losing a number of key players in the last few weeks of the transfer window, Atletico Madrid have been on a spending spree of late. They recently brought in Croatian international Mario Mandzukic from Bayern Munich for a transfer fee believed to be in excess of £ 20 million. This was followed by the signing of a goalkeeper in order to replace Thibaut Courtois. Rather than sign a bargain name, Atletico went on and brought in Benfica goalkeeper Jan Oblak for a fee believed to be close to £ 15 million.

The 21-year-old could prove to be a great signing if he manages to realise his potential. These additions have been followed by the signing of World Cup star Antoine Griezmann from Real Sociedad for around € 25 million. After impressing with the French national team at the World Cup 2014, there was enormous interest surrounding Griezmann. The likes of Arsenal were rumoured to be interested in the 23-year-old, who clearly has a lot of potential. However, the prospect of playing for the current la Liga champions proved irresistible.

After completing the move, Griezmann claimed that Atletico have the capability to win all the major trophy since the coming campaign. Last season, they came close to winning a famous double despite having one of the smallest squads in the division.

“I am an ambitious player and the team will be battling to win every competition it is involved in. But as the coach says, we’ll take it one game at a time, and that means a lot of hard work and effort. I needed to take a leap in my career, to learn new things and I knew that the place to do that is here at Atletico.  I hope to learn a lot from the technical team and also from my new team-mates. Atletico stated an interest quite some time ago, and when they called, they made their intentions very clear,” said Griezmann.