Rijo Sam Daniel
Leeds United and Southampton are interested in signing Manchester United star Phil Jones
According to the journalist Ekrem Konur on Twitter (h/t LeedsLive), Leeds United and Southampton are interested in signing Manchester United star Phil Jones ahead of the summer transfer window. He has largely struggled to earn meaningful minutes despite returning to first-team action in the second half of the previous campaign.
Jones had been out of contention for a long time after struggling with injuries, and he was even restricted to youth football for a while. But the lack of reliable options at the back paved the way for him to get back into the first-team set-up, having made five appearances last term.
Despite his resurgence, it would be best if Man United would decide to part ways with the England international. After all, he is well past his best days which calls for the need to replace him moving forward. That could be on the cards since Leeds and the Saints have shown an interest in him alongside the Premier League-bound Fulham.
Jones to leave Man Utd this summer?
It seems that we are in line to be subjected to a defensive exodus in the upcoming transfer window. After all, Eric Bailly and Axel Tuanzebe are set to leave Old Trafford this summer, while the Red Devils are open to listening to proposals for Aaron Wan-Bissaka as well.
Perhaps, Jones could join them as well, as it is well past the right time that we decide to part ways with fringe players for the better. While the 30-year-old has done well since returning to contention, his quality is not enough if there are plans to take on the big guns like Liverpool and Manchester City.
Jones will see his current contract expire in 2023, which means that we should do our best to sell him this summer to get a decent fee. While we have the option to extend his deal by another year, there is no reason for us to take that route under the current circumstances.
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The interest from these clubs would give us an ideal scenario that could potentially end in a transfer tussle over the Red Devils veteran’s services. That could provide us with the best opportunity to drive up the price to something more reasonable but whether that will happen or not, though, remains to be seen.
However, the Manchester side would be concerned to know that the Whites’ interest has been played down by Leeds Live. That does raise questions about the integrity of this piece of information, so we must wait for more confirmations from reliable sources.
