Manchester United will apparently take their desperate pursuit of a central defender down to the wire of transfer window deadline day. The next candidate, and leading target right now is on the very team that they lost to yesterday in a friendly- Bayern Munich.
Sky Sports Germany is reporting that United are in talks to acquire Jerome Boateng, after deals for the likes of Tottenham Hotspur’s Toby Alderweireld, Leicester City’s Harry Maguire and Barcelona’s Yerry Mina didn’t materialize for a whole host of very different reasons.
Bild (h/t Sport Witness) reports that Bayern values the aging, but very accomplished centre-back in the neighborhood of €55 million (£49 million), while Sky reports the figure in the neighborhood of $56.8 million.
Bayern chief executive officer Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wants a cash only deal, as he told the German newspaper of record that he’s not interested in swap deal involving Anthony Martial, an idea that’s been discussed.
It appears that United are in the last chance saloon of the transfer window when it comes to acquiring a new centre back and if Boateng doesn’t arrive, then Jose Mourinho will obviously just have to make do with what he has. Maybe Eric Bailly can stay healthy and in form this season? Perhaps this is the season Victor Lindelof lives up to his price tag?
An upgrade over the pairing of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones (who started the FA Cup final) is badly needed, but if that doesn’t arrive from Bavaria, it may have to just come from in house.
Mourinho can at least depend on Boateng to step and play right away, and provide an immediate augmentation to the back line. His acquisition could make a C- kind of transfer window (which Mourinho warned us about, saying it could prelude a difficult 2018-19 season) more worthy of a B-.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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