Harry Maguire might believe he has silenced his Manchester United critics by scoring a goal for England against Albania, but the reality is the club’s defence is still struggling.
That’s despite them spending heavily on Raphaël Varane in the summer, which is why we are still seeing them be linked with centre-backs on a regular basis, with Jules Koundé cropping up more and more regularly.
The Sevilla star was the subject of a bid from Chelsea in the summer, which was rejected by the La Liga side, but the belief these days is that if a club comes close to his €80m release clause, the Spanish club would have to accept.
This has been repeated a number of times in various reports in Spain, with Estadio Deportivo the latest, who explain Monchi is ‘conscious of the Jules Koundé situation’.
He knows his star defender is an ‘object of desire from various big clubs’, with the latest being ‘an enquiry from a Manchester United with many defensive problems’.
Regarding a potential contract extension, the task is seen as ‘very difficult’, with the firm belief that a transfer ‘will take place sooner or later’.
We’ll have to wait and see how much money Manchester United will be willing to throw at the January transfer market to help Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but if they agree to a big expense on yet another centre-back, Koundé might be an easy one to get.
