Yahoo Sports Man Utd make £50m bid for Mason Mount and prepare Harry Kane move
Manchester United are to make an offer of £50 million to sign Mason Mount this month.
The club will also push Tottenham Hotspur to sell Harry Kane but currently believe it is unlikely to happen. United are set to back manager Erik ten Hag and are also targeting signing a left-winger and another midfielder, in addition to Mount.
There are no plans, at present, to spend significant money on a goalkeeper and a new deal for David De Gea, whose current contract runs out at the end of this month, is expected to be announced shortly.
De Gea came under scrutiny again after his performance in the FA Cup Final with questions as to whether he was at fault for Ilkay Gundogan’s winning goal. But terms have already been agreed with the 32-year-old.
United are progressing with a deal to sign Mount with, as Telegraph Sport revealed last week, personal terms not an issue for the Chelsea midfielder. Negotiations between the clubs were also opened following the Premier League meeting on May 25.
United believe an offer of £50 million is a fair price for the England international who has endured a difficult campaign at Chelsea and crucially only has one more left on his contract.
Even so Chelsea are expected to demand substantially more for the academy product but United also know they need to sell this summer to reduce their squad size, balance their books and provide funds for their new head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
Chelsea do not want to let Mount go but must generate income by June 30 to ease Financial Fair Play worries after spending £600 million in the past two transfer windows. The transfer window opens on June 14.
Liverpool and Arsenal are also interested in Mount but there is a growing confidence that he will sign for United with Ten Hag earmarking him for the key ‘number eight’ role to provide more dynamism to the midfield. Mount is versatile and can play an even more attacking role, also, which adds to his appeal.
Reece James spoke about Mount’s future as the pair attended the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix in Barcelona. “Of course if he goes everyone will be sad to see him go,” James said.
But Mount kept his cards close to his chest. “I’m here to just enjoy this race, today,” was the straight-batted reply. “Amazing day. Can’t wait to watch it.”
His team-mate Ben Chilwell, who was also at the event, said: “I would love him to stay. He’s my best-mate. Personally I would love him to stay but it’s none of my business, I can’t really comment on that.”
Kane the ‘ideal’ signing for United – and Ten Hag
The situation around Kane is more complicated given the scale of the deal and how difficult it has proven in the past to persuade Tottenham Hotspur to sell. Manchester City failed in their attempts two years ago and United have always been interested in the England captain.
However, Kane, who turns 30 next month, now only has 12 months left on his contract at Tottenham and chairman Daniel Levy has to decide whether to cash in on him, if a bid is made, or risk losing him for free next summer.
Spurs still remain hopeful that Kane will commit his future to the club and sign a new contract but the indications are that he will either run down his deal or hope to leave before then.
Kane is hugely admired by Ten Hag and has long been regarded as the ideal signing for United and not least to help their young England players. He has, for example, a good relationship with Marcus Rashford and United’s return to the Champions League has strengthened their hand.
Clearly a major issue will be the transfer fee and, potentially, the limitations on the funds available to Ten Hag with United already having more than £300 million to pay for outstanding transfers and having to comply with Uefa’s Profit and Sustainability rules. The club will hope to generate funds with sales but it is unclear what the market is for some of their unwanted players such as Harry Maguire.
At the same time Spanish media are pushing that Real Madrid will move for Kane now that it has been confirmed Karim Benzema is leaving the club.
Given they also claim that Erling Haaland is joining Real next summer it is hard to see how that squares with a bid for Kane but the Spanish giants will, of course, have to replace Benzema who has accepted a huge offer to play in Saudi Arabia. Maybe they feel Kane and Haaland can eventually play together.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti did not reference Kane after his side’s final game of the season — a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao in which Benzema scored a penalty — but said: “Benzema told us about his decision to leave the club this morning, it was really unexpected.
“His departure was surprising, now we have time to think about what we should do. We will sign strikers.”
There are more realistic alternatives than Kane being considered by United for the centre-forward position but he remains their number one target if a deal can be done.
United’s interest in signing a left-winger is slightly surprising given the emergence of Alejandro Garnacho but the Argentinian is still only 18-year-old and is inexperienced and Ten Hag wants more depth in that area of the pitch.
