Manchester United have made contact with representatives of RB Leipzig Ibrahima Konaté about a possible move to Old Trafford.
The Parisian born French under-21 international came through the ranks at Ligue II side Sochaux, before moving to Leipzig in 2017.
He is regarded as one of the brightest talents in the Bundesliga, despite having missed much of the current season with a muscle injury. He has made 48 appearances for the German team, scoring for them once.
United have previously been linked with Konaté’s centre-back partner at Leipzig Dayot Upamecano, who has also attracted interest from Arsenal and Bayern Munich. However, he is likely to choose to sign a new contract with the Bundesliga side and, anyway, has a release clause of £53 million, which may be too much for United given current circumstances.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has already warned of the impact on the club’s ability to spend money this summer because of the coronavirus crisis, and Konaté represents considerably better value in the present market.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.