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09th Jan 2017

Eric Bailly makes it perfectly clear that he wants Victor Lindelöf at Manchester United

Let the speculation begin.

Simon Lloyd

By now, you’ve absolutely no excuse for not knowing who Victor Lindelöf is.

Even though you’d probably never heard of him at the start of November, the Swedish defender’s name has hardly been out of the transfer gossip columns in the time since, with rumours of a move from Benfica to Manchester United refusing to die.

Although a report from the BBC had appeared to end any hopes of Lindelöf moving to Old Trafford in the January transfer window, the speculation appears to have ramped up again in the last couple of days.

Doing absolutely nothing to quash such rumours is United defender Eric Bailly, who is currently away on international duty with the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.

“I hope to play with him. Hopefully he will help us,” Bailly is quoted as saying about the Swedish international by Fotbollskanalen. “He is a very good player. He has great qualities and will certainly do well if he comes to us.”

Not ignoring the fact that United appear well stocked in the central defensive position, Bailly reiterates that he’d like to see him in Manchester at some point soon.

“We have many good central defenders – Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones – but I hope I get to play with Lindelöf.

“I don’t have a guaranteed place and I know I have to be good to play. We’re all fighting to play. I think we have done well. We have done our best.

“The day we get to play, if it comes, we must take advantage of that opportunity. I think we would fit well together.”