Manchester United has had a £22m(€25m) bid for Benoit Badiashile rejected after Monaco manager Niko Kovac requested to keep him at the club. United has been linked with defensive targets in this summer’s window but has failed to capture any of them. Nathan Ake and Gabriel Magalhaes were options but the former has now moved to Manchester City while the latter will complete a transfer to Arsenal in the coming days.
The Red Devils are ready to release three of their first-team defenders with Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo all linked over a potential exit. Solskjaer wants to replace them with just one signing with a left-footed centre-half being the priority hence the previous links with Ake and Magalhaes.
An informant close to Monaco claims that Benoit Badiashile will remain at the Stade de Louis “unless Manchester United makes a Martial-like, unrefutable bid for him.” Martial moved to Old Trafford in 2015 for a deal worth £58 m including add-ons that depend on certain clauses. Just above Marcus Rashford, he finished as his side’s top scorer last season and hit a personal best of 23 goals.
Bayer Leverkusen has been in talks to sign Badiashile for weeks and intend to return with a new offer regardless. The teenage centre-back is rated as one of the best young defenders around and he’s previously been linked with the Red Devils.
He has almost 50 senior appearances for Monaco to his name already and was a crucial squad player for the French side during the 2019/20 season that was ended prematurely due to COVID-19. Badiashile started the first game of Monaco’s 2020/21 campaign as he continues to push for a regular starting berth, scoring in a 2-2 draw with Stade Reims.
Manchester United fans have watched other teams strengthen significantly and are becoming increasingly desperate for their beloved club to do same. Jadon Sancho is the club’s primary target but a move has failed to materialise following Dortmund’s adamance that United must pay their full asking price for the youth prodigy. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side begins their new Premier League campaign in three weeks and will look to get some new faces in before then.
