Thomas Hein
Manchester United have made an approach to sign Sevilla’s centre-back Clement Lenglet according to reports coming in from France.
The French defender impressed when Sevilla faced United in the Champions League round-of-16 as the La Liga side surprisingly defeated us over the two legs.
The report from L’Equipe (h/t The Metro) claims that United have increased their efforts to sign the 22-year-old centre-back but face a lot of competition for the defender as Barcelona are also looking to sign Lenglet.
The report claims that the 22-year-old has a release clause of €35m and was signed by the La Liga side for a fee of just €5million. Lenglet played 51 games for Sevilla last season as he helped them finish 7th in the league.
United keeping options open for defensive targets?
United have been looking to add more options in the heart of the defence as we have been linked with moves for the likes of Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti and Toby Alderweireld of Tottenham.
The pair stated above would certainly be more expensive than Lenglet and possibly be less risky purchases given that they are both world-class defenders at the moment.
The one thing that Lenglet has in his favour is his age and also the fact that his price tag isn’t all that high. Jose Mourinho might have to be a little careful with his purchases at the back as Victor Lindelof has not been convinced since joining us last season.
Lenglet should be our last option in case we don’t sign our priority targets but if we do get the Frenchman, Mourinho should look to keep him on the bench and ease him into the playing XI.
