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4 hours ago
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Patrick Dorgu’s future could be settled today, with Manchester United’s interest in the 20-year-old full-back-or-winger-depending-on-which-paper-you-read due to solidify sometime on Tuesday afternoon, when the club will hold talks with Lecce’s director of football, Pantaleo Corvino, in Milan. The side sitting 17th in Serie A want €40m for the Dane but will accept €35m plus a few bonuses, according to Gazzetta dello Sport, for a left-footed player who could fill the wing-back role on either flank for Ruben Amorim’s troubled team.
The complication comes from Napoli, who have identified Dorgu as their first-choice fall-back option should their pursuit of United’s Alejandro Garnacho come to nought. Napoli have now submitted an offer, inclusive of all bonuses, of £50m for Garnacho but will pick up the phone to Corvino should they not hear something positive on Tuesday. United appear to have a healthy list of fall-back full-back targets of their own, in the shape of (deep breath) Paris Saint-Germain’s Nuno Mendes, Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez, the Wolves left-back Rayan Aït-Nouri and Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell.
Dusan Vlahovic might be Juventus’s top scorer, but he has only 18 months remaining on his contract, which has a pay rise built in for its final year, and had a post-match argument with a group of the club’s fans last month. All of that means he could be available this month, with Chelsea looking most likely to swoop. The London club have the advantage of already being in discussions with Juventus over the potential sale of Renato Veiga, and seem to have decided that given Nicolas Jackson’s inconsistency they could do with another striker, especially with Christopher Nkunku Bayern-bound.
Back to Manchester United, then, and just as a club finally volunteers to pay most of his wages if he joins them on loan – Monaco preparing to dig deeper than their rivals Borussia Dortmund – Marcus Rashford has decided he no longer wants to leave, the Sun reporting that “the dumped attacker now wants to start against Rangers in Thursday’s Europa League clash”. The Athletic meanwhile dismisses Monégasque speculation by insisting that “Dortmund believe they represent the only realistic avenue for him away from United”.
Having “angrily” snubbed West Ham’s £57m offer for Jhon Durán (“nowhere near a price Villa would reluctantly consider”, reports the Telegraph, suggesting that figure is £80m), Aston Villa have offered around £17m plus add-ons for Sevilla’s Loïc Badé, but the Spanish club value the 24-year-old at £25m. Villa hope to raise £10m of that by selling Diego Carlos to Fenerbahce – though there seems some confusion about that deal, with the Mail saying it “was back in the balance last night”, the Athletic that a verbal agreement has been reached – but then spend £6m of that on the Levante right-back Andrés García.
Not going anywhere, meanwhile, is Martin Dubravka, who had gone as far as saying goodbye to friends and starting to pack, but has now put off his move to the Saudi side Al-Shabab until at least the summer after Newcastle decided to keep hold of him.
