Agent: Man United want Macheda back

With Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen all above him in the attacking pecking order, the Italy Under-21 international had joined Sampdoria in the hope of regular first team football.

But the 19-year-old failed to score in 14 Serie A appearances as the Genoa-based club were relegated from the top flight at the end of a season which they began in the Champions League qualification round.

With both Berbatov and Owen committing themselves to at least one more season with United and Danny Welbeck returning from a loan spell at Sunderland, there had been speculation that Sir Alex Ferguson would be happy to let Macheda stay in Italy and help Sampdoria regain their Serie A status.

However, the player’s agent has now confirmed this will not be the case.

“As far as I am aware, Manchester United intend to keep Macheda,” Giovanni Bia told Radio Mana Mana.

“They don’t want to loan him out again.”

ByLiam Twomey