MANCHESTER, England (AP) - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is on the verge of making his first signing as Manchester United manager after the club reached an agreement Friday to bring in speedy Wales winger Daniel James from second-tier Swansea.
The 21-year-old James has agreed to personal terms and passed a medical examination. He will complete his move next week when the international transfer window opens.
The signing of James is a signal that United might be ready to eschew the recent policy of recruiting marquee names in favor of younger and up-and-coming players.
Ahead of his first full season in charge, Solskjaer may be looking to overhaul a squad widely seen to have underachieved by finishing sixth in the Premier League last season.
James is an academy graduate at Swansea who scored five goals in 38 appearances for the club last season and has played twice for Wales.
He can play on either wing, so would threaten the starting places of Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial - and push Alexis Sanchez further down the pecking order, if the Chile international stays at United after an underwhelming 18 months.
James, whose biggest attribute is his pace, garnered plenty of attention thanks to an impressive display for Swansea against Manchester City in an FA Cup quarterfinal match last season.
“He is a talent and when you have speed like that as well as the temperament that he has, he could play anywhere,” Wales coach Ryan Giggs, a former United player, recently said of James.
Following the death of his father, James withdrew from Wales’ training camp in Portugal last month but made himself available for the European Championship qualifiers in Croatia on Saturday and in Hungary next Tuesday.
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