Manchester United are now off until April 4, when they’ll resume their Premier League campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion. In the meantime, we’ve got some transfer talk to do, so let’s dive right in, starting with long term target, Napoli central defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
The new add-on narrative, related to this transfer saga is- Everton has interest in the 29-year-old, according to Football Insider.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti has been given a sizable transfer war chest to work with, during his time at Goodison Park, and it appears he’ll be handed some major funding again this summer.
Ancelotti’s plan, according to FI, “is to recruit an A-grade defensive leader just like Liverpool and Man City did with their landmark purchases of Virgil van Dijk and Ruben Dias.”
If Koulibaly does finally, actually make the move to United, he could be replacing Eric Bailly, the subject of our next item.
Bailly, who has missed the last three games, despite being healthy hasn’t figured into the plans of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Therefore he feels disrespected by the club, according to one of his close confidants.
A friend of the defender has told Sky Sports News: “Eric loves the club and the fans, his family are settled in Manchester and he’d like nothing more than to spend the rest of his career at Old Trafford. (transcript Evening Standard)
“But he feels the club has been very disrespectful towards him and frankly he’s had enough. He feels that no matter what he does, he will never be first choice for Ole. He now realises he’s too good and too young to spend his time sitting on the bench.”
The Ivorian has 15 months left on his current deal. Speaking of current United players who aren’t receiving playing time, Donny van de Beek is the subject of our third and final transfer news item.
Having just moved over from Ajax this past summer, as the club’s first signing of the transfer period, could already be heading out this summer. He could be used as part of a megadeal to land Borussia Dortmund’s three megastars: Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho and Manuel Akanji.
Haaland, Europe’s superlative scoring sensation, has been linked with a move to several of the world’s biggest clubs, including the English trio of Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City.
Four Four Two, citing 90 Min has more at this link.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.