They could probably do with a centre-back…
Manchester United have had a €25 million bid for Benoit Badiashile rejected by AS Monaco, according to reports in France.
RMC Sport’s Mohamed Bouhafsi has reported that newly appointed manager Niko Kovac has instructed the club not to accept any bids for the 19-year-old.
⚪️🔴 AS #Monaco have rejected a €25m offer from Manchester #United for defender Benoît #Badiashile – Niko Kovac has told his board that he wants to keep the Frenchman & that they should reject all bids for him
— Mohamed Bouhafsi (@mohamedbouhafsi) August 26, 2020
He adds that a source close to Monaco says the most probably outcome from these negotiations is that the defender stays at Monaco, “unless Manchester make a Martial-like, unrefusable bid for him.”
Bayer Leverkusen have also expressed interest in the highly rated defender and plan to submit a new offer for him regardless of United’s bid being knocked back.
United will begin their Premier League season in three weeks’ time, having been given an extended break after reaching the semi finals of the Europa League, where they were knocked out by eventual champions Sevilla.
The club will want to use that time efficiently in the transfer market, having not yet made any new additions to a squad which is desperately lacking in strength in depth.
Their ongoing pursuit of Jadon Sancho appears to have been halted after Borussia Dortmund announced he would not leave this summer after weeks of negotiations during which United failed to meet their asking price.
They have been linked with Bournemouth’s David Brooks, who would cost a third of the price of Sancho but obviously doesn’t possess the same quality.
But central defence could very quickly become a priority for them, with the ongoing uncertainty around their captain, Harry Maguire.
On Tuesday, Maguire was found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and repeated attempts of bribery towards police officers in Mykonos, and sentenced to a suspended sentence of 21 months. Maguire is appealing the sentence.
Manchester United then issued a statement, explaining that Maguire “pleaded not guilty to all charges made against him and he continues to strongly assert his innocence.”
But the uncertainty of the situation, not to mention the fact Maguire had to play every minute of every game throughout the 2019/20 season and the inconsistency of their back-up centre-back Eric Bailly, means they would be wise to strengthen in that area.
They had previously been linked to Nathan Ake, but he joined Manchester City for £4om.
