Manchester United’s interest in Jules Kounde has not ‘translated into any real offer’ for the time being, despite reports to the contrary.
That’s according to Diario de Sevilla, who say the negotiations with Sevilla for Anthony Martial has ‘nothing to do’ with Manchester United’s interest in the Frenchman.
The newspaper explains that Sevilla’s sporting management have given the green light to try and make a ‘chimerical operation’ in January and sign Martial, who is out of favour under Ralf Rangnick.
Monchi will have to ‘pull out the magic’ to try and sign the French forward, something he has done before with other high-level players, precedents which are ‘encouraging’.
Martial has ‘welcomed’ the idea of a loan move for six months, but the deal is complicated financially for the Spanish side, largely because of the forward’s wages.
He earns €8m a year, so Sevilla would pay half of that, but even that figure is too much for them, so Manchester United would have to cover some, and Martial would need to take a cut.
One option could be for United to work out a swap deal with Kounde, who they have a longstanding interest in, but that is not on the cards.
While their interest is ‘in the background’, sources close to the negotiation have insisted that the Martial operation ‘has nothing to do’ with United’s alleged interest in Kounde.
In fact, that interest ‘has not been translated’ into ‘any real offer’ for the French defender at this moment in time, despite the numerous reports in the press regarding that interest.
So any suggestions that a swap deal could be on the cards are wide of the mark at this point, but that could always change in the coming weeks.
