Manchester United are in pole position to sign Hoffenheim left-back David Raum with Borussia Dortmund unlikely to meet the asking price, Sky Germany reports.
The 24-year-old joined Hoffenheim on a free transfer from Greuther Furth last summer. He had a wonderful debut season with three goals and 13 assists from 35 appearances.
Raum operated from the left-back and left wing-back positions for the Bundesliga outfit. His performances have already made him a regular with the German national side.
It is now reported that Premier League clubs would be favourites to land Raum as Dortmund can’t afford to pay over €30 million. United are mentioned as the main suitors.
Meanwhile, a separate report from BILD (via Keven Bader) suggests that Hoffenheim want at least €40m for the attacking full-back with United, Newcastle and West Ham keen.
Our view:
Raum had a superb campaign with Hoffenheim where he excelled with his ball progression and key passes (2.6 per game). Despite this, he was also solid defensively with 1.6 tackles and 0.8 interceptions per game.
His attributes would be ideal for new manager Erik ten Hag, who likes to play an attacking brand of football with overlapping full-backs. The club have also been linked with Denzel Dumfries in recent weeks.
While a new right-back could be a priority this summer, it remains to be seen whether United are interested in reinforcing the left-back department. Luke Shaw and Alex Telles fared decently last season.
Shaw did suffer multiple injury setbacks, but 12 months prior to that, he was at the top of his game at the European Championships. Telles has been handy as his deputy, making five goal contributions last term.
Ten Hag may feel he can work with the current set of players, who are better going forward than their counter-parts at right-back. Unless one of them leaves, we don’t see United spending big on Raum.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com and WhoScored.com
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