Man Utd could consider transfer for £30m centre-back

Manchester United could be set to do a deal in January to sell centre-back Eric Bailly, according to reports.

The 24-year-old has started only four of our last 17 Premier League games as we suspect Jose Mourinho has fallen out with the Ivory Coast international.

Bailly’s last start in the Premier League was our 3-2 win over Newcastle United at the start of October and even then he was substituted after only 19 minutes.

ESPN are now reporting that Italian giants AC Milan are prepared to make an offer for our centre-back with a view to bringing the defender to the San Siro in January as a result of the player’s lack of playing time. Jose Mourinho could certainly welcome the offer given that he appears to have fallen out with the centre-back.

Victor Lindelof and Chris Smalling have been preferred over the Ivorian in recent weeks, whilst Phil Jones was on the bench during our 2-1 win over Bournemouth this past weekend. Bailly’s presence has certainly been missed as we have kept just one clean sheet in our first 11 games this season.

The centre-back is under contract at Old Trafford until the summer of 2020 meaning January could be our final opportunity to get a good offer for the player should he be willing to leave the club rather than extend his deal at the record champions of England.

Jose Mourinho paid Villarreal £30 million two years ago when he arrived at Manchester United himself to acquire Eric Bailly. The centre-back made an excellent impact initially during his time in the Premier League before his career was hampered by injuries, and ultimately, being dropped from the first team by the Portuguese coach.

AC Milan have been far from the force of old in recent seasons and currently sit fourth in Serie A – though 10 points behind leaders Juventus and won’t be making a title challenge this season. Alessio Romagnoli and Mateo Musacchio are the current first choice centre-back partnership at the San Siro.