With the change in regime at Old Trafford, Manchester United are being linked with a host of names to bolster their defence and midfield and Greek defender Kostas Manolas is the latest player to be linked with Jose Mourinho and the Red Devils.
Sky Italia reporters Manuele Baiocchini and Paolo Assegna reported on Wednesday that Manchester United representatives are ready to meet the Roma centre-back’s entourage with an offer of €40 million (via DiMarzio). The Greek defender appears to be Mourinho’s first choice reinforcement for the defence.
This is not the first time this season that a Roma player has been linked with a Premier League club, but Chelsea, who were looking likely to securing the services of Belgian Radja Nainggolan, appear to have hit a wall in their pursuit of the versatile midfielder after he pledged his future to AS Roma.
The big name that could be sacrificed to fund the Giallorossi’s transfers this summer is Kostas Manolas, who is one of the most highly-rated defenders in Serie A. Roma are notorious for selling their top centre-backs as Manolas was brought in from Olympiakos following the sale of Medhi Benatia to Bayern Munich. Benatia in turn was brought in to replace the outgoing Brazillian Marquinhos, who moved to Paris Saint-Germain.
There is a ‘but’
While Roma’s asking price of €40 million can be matched by Manchester United in a heartbeat, the deal is more complicated than it looks. This is because there is a clause in Manolas’ contract which states that his former club Olympiakos would be entitled to a 50% of a possible future sale should Roma sell him before the 1st of September 2016.
Roma’s director of football Walter Sabatini will, however, find a clever way of bypassing this clause should Manchester United show concrete interest. The clause can be circumvented by loaning him to Manchester United for an initial period of 6 months before completing a permanent deal in the winter window.
While many fans were looking forward to United pursuing Athletic Bilbao’s French defender Ayemeric Laporte, it would seem that they will have to be satisfied with Roma’s Manolas, who has had an equally impressive record with the capital club for the past two years. The defensive reinforcement is much needed at Old Trafford and Mourinho will try to find the right combination before his Premier League journey with the Red Devils starts.
