Man United Hold Talks With Benfica Starlet Over £38m Move
REUTERS/Rafael Marchante
Manchester United have held talks with Benfica over a £38m move for Victor Lindelof, according to Sky Sports.
As per the report, Mourinho has been in pursuit of the defender since summer, but Benfica have been reluctant to part ways with their young starlet, more so after having qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
However, according to Sky Sources, United have opened talks with Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira – who, as per rumours, has travelled to London to discuss a potential January deal for the Swedish star – and it appears like an agreement could soon be reached between the two parties.
Jose Mourinho hasn’t been able to fully trust his defenders since taking charge at Old Trafford in the summer. While Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have shown some sort of improvement in recent weeks, United boss still doesn’t rely on the pair as a long-term option.
But now, it seems like Mourinho has found a solution to his defensive problems, with even Portuguese outlets Record and A Bola claiming that Lindelof is edging closer to completing a Benfica club record switch to Manchester United.
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Mourinho began the season with summer signing Eric Bailly and Daley Blind as his trusted centre-back pairing, but Blind was eventually replaced by Chris Smalling. But the Englishman and Ivory Coast international’s injury issues, coupled with the Dutchman’s inconsistency, have led to the establishment of Jones and Rojo as the new No.1 pairing.
United’s fortunes seem to have turned around luckily over the past few weeks, with their new defensive duo proving to be a solid outfit – so much so, that the impressive Bailly was forced to operate at right-back in the 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on his brief return from injury.
However, Argentine Rojo still looks a bit little shaky, and was lucky to avoid a red card in recent weeks with two unwanted challenges. And with Jones’s injury prone nature consistently being a major concern for United, the signing of Lindelof would certainly solve all the injury problems for Mourinho.
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