Sevilla secured the services of Clement Lenglet from French club Nancy in January 2017. He took no time to adjust in Spain and in the past 18 months the centre-back has emerged as one of the star players for the Andalusian side.
For the past few months, the 22-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to Barcelona. French newspaper L’Equipe now claims that Manchester United are also interested in signing the defender this summer.
Chelsea made an inquiry for Lenglet a few months ago. The report claims, as of now, the competition is between the Premier League giants and the La Liga winners for the French star’s signature.
Lenglet has a €35m release clause, which means Sevilla don’t have the upper hand, if either Barcelona or United trigger the clause.
Barcelona have already secured the future of Samuel Umtiti after he signed a new deal. The Catalan club still want to add Lenglet to their squad but his arrival at Camp Nou will not guarantee him regular playing time. It is going to be a similar situation if he joins United.
Ernesto Valverde’s side were hoping to agree terms with the player, but the Red Devils’ interest has slowed down the pace of the negotiation with Barcelona, claim L’Equipe. Jose Mourinho is aware of Lenglet’s quality after Sevilla knocked United out of the Champions League and it’s claimed a ‘very concrete’ approach has been made.
That sounds like it’s being presented as rather more than concrete than it is, otherwise Mourinho is much stronger in his Lenglet pursuit than had been thought.
Meanwhile, Sevilla director of football Joaquin Caparros has revealed no club has approached him or the club president about signing Lenglet. Caparros even urged the Frenchman to follow Dani Alves’ footsteps before selecting his next club.
“What’s certain is that as of today no one has spoke with the president nor with me to show their interest in Lenglet,” Caparros said, as quoted by Sport.
“I have given him Daniel Alves as an example and other players that also came through Sevilla – how they grew, matured here, at a club playing on a European level. You have to know how to choose the right club and the right moment [when you leave] and Lenglet is an intelligent guy.”
