Manchester United have joined the race for Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kanté and could match the Blues €60m asking price.
That’s according to Tuttosport, who say that United are rivalling Inter Milan to try and sign the French star this summer.
The newspaper explains that Inter manager Antonio Conte has identified Kanté as the perfect addition for his midfield and Inter have been working to get a deal done.
Chelsea, for their part, have set a €60m asking price and have categorically refused any sort of loan deal happening.
They want a ‘definitive sale’ but Inter cannot afford their current demands and would prefer to try to lower Chelsea to €50m.
As yet it’s unclear whether Kanté actually wants to leave Stamford Bridge but that ‘hurdle could fall’ at some point this summer should Frank Lampard’s side manage to sign West Ham’s Declan Rice.
If arrived, that would mean serious competition for the Frenchman, and it would become ‘more urgent’ to find a new club where he can play regularly.
Inter are willing to offer him that and ‘entrust him’ with the keys to their midfield, but there is another ‘obstacle’ they need to overcome. That’s because ‘Manchester United have also joined in’.
They have appeared ‘on the trail’ of the world champions and could ‘easily satisfy’ Chelsea’s €60m demands should they decide to make a move.
Whether they’ve decided to or not isn’t mentioned, in fact, the report is a little thin on the ground in that regard. Tuttosport don’t state when Manchester United suddenly became interested, why they’re interested or anything of that nature.
In fact, all they offer is that they’re looking at the Frenchman; nothing more, nothing less. And that makes this report extremely dubious.
For a start, United don’t need another midfielder given they’ve added Donny van de Beek to an already packed midfield of Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay.
Perhaps if one of those were to be sold this summer, it would make sense, but even then, €60m is a big price and would Chelsea really be all that open to selling to a direct rival? It seems unlikely.
We’re taking this with a massive pinch of salt at the minute, but when it inevitably turns up in the English media, you know where it came from.
