Hannibal Mejbri has reportedly completed his medical on Thursday at Manchester United before completing his €10 million move from AS Monaco.
Manchester United are finally set to add to their list of transfers this summer. But, this one is unlikely to have an effect on the first-team pecking order. AS Monaco wonderkid Hannibal Mejbri has reportedly undergone his medical on Thursday and will soon be confirmed to be a Manchester United player, as per Get French Football News.
French 16-year-old central midfielder Hannibal Mejbri underwent a medical with Manchester United today, according to @Stickwic. About to move for €10m (including bonuses) from AS Monaco.
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) August 1, 2019
The report credits former L’Equipe journalist Constant Wicherek with the story of the medical. GFFN add that the fee is in the ballpark of €10 million including bonuses and add-ons. Other outlets have speculated the original fee is between €5 million to €7 million with the rest in the form of bonuses.
16-year-old Hannibal Mejbri has been waging a long battle with AS Monaco. The youngster’s camp had wished for his AS Monaco contract to be terminated over failure to honour the promises made as part of the contract. But, their appeals were rejected by the governing body.
AS Monaco were intent on retaining a talent like Mejbri. But, his public war waged clearly showed the player wasn’t willing to continue at the club. The French giants have thus, not stood in the way of Manchester United and have instead, negotiated a fee to facilitate the 16-year-old’s move to England.
Manchester United were interested from the get-go and had offered a lucrative contract to Mejbri. But, it is rather surprising to see United splash such a high amount for a 16-year-old, given that the lucrative contract was offered when there was hope of his AS Monaco deal getting terminated.
Reports #MUFC will complete a €10m deal for 16 year old AS Monaco midfielder Hannibal Mejbri.
Maybe a name we’ll be hearing more of in a few years… ? pic.twitter.com/eYyRI9DC1b
— Full Time DEVILS (@FullTimeDEVILS) July 31, 2019
Manchester United must rate Hannibal Mejbri high enough to spend such an amount to get him to England from Monaco. The 16-year-old joins the likes of Dillon Hoogewerf, Lukasz Bejger, Mateo Mejia and Bjorn Hadley as the foreign recruits for the current batch of the Under-18 squad.
The previous batch has already seen the likes of Tahith Chong make his senior debut for the club while the likes of Aliou Traore, Arnau Puigmal, Matej Kovar and Di’Shon Bernard have made the step up to be a part of the Manchester United Under-23 squad.
It will be interesting to see who among the present batch of Under-18s will follow in the footsteps of the previous batch and make their senior debuts in the future or will join the likes of Nishan Burkart and Millen Baars as talents to be released by the club.