Manchester United have joined the list of clubs eyeing up Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah in the January transfer window as they look to resolve their ‘acute needs’ in defence.
That’s according to Kicker, who say opinion on Tah appears to have changed in the Premier League and Manchester United are one of those now eyeing a move.
They explain that despite having shown a ‘fundamental desire’ to move to England on more than one occasions, no clubs came calling for Tah in the summer when he was available.
He’s continued his ‘fantastic development’ since then, though, further establishing himself as a key player in Leverkusen’s defence as they challenge Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title.
They are ‘showing interest’ in the defender as they have been ‘acutely affected’ by injury problems in central defence this season and need to resolve that with a new addition.
Tah could be the answer, but the problem is Leverkusen are not interested in a sale in the January transfer window.
The defender has an €18m release clause that activates in the summer, but it doesn’t come into effect in the coming weeks and thus him leaving is ‘virtually impossible’.
That’s because he’s currently a key player in Xavi Alonso’s three-man defence and with them potentially losing Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou to the Africa Cup of Nations, losing Tah just isn’t viable.
Him going in the coming weeks and then being absent for the rest of the season would ‘further jeopardise’ the club’s lofty goals, particularly in the middle of a title race.
Thus, they have very little interest in selling and Manchester United will need to make an irresistible offer to change that, even if Tah publicly wants a move to the Premier League.
