Manchester United are reportedly leading the race ahead of Arsenal to sign Sporting CP star Ousmane Diomande, as per Caught Offside.
It is very common when a manager switches clubs reports start coming out that he wants to bring a few players with him to his new club from the old team.
It happened when Erik ten Hag was appointed as the new manager back in 2022 and it continued to happen throughout his time at Old Trafford. The Dutch boss even signed several players that he previously worked with.
Now, following Ruben Amorim’s arrival as the new boss from Sporting CP, Man Utd have been getting linked with a few of the Lions stars with Geovany Quenda and Viktor Gyokeres being among them.
Caught Offside claim that Amorim wants to sign Diomande from Sporting and he has already made contact with the player over a deal to secure his service.
Diomande to Man Utd
However, the player has a £67m release clause in his existing deal and the price could be a stumbling block for United to seal the deal.
The report says Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City are also interested in him but Man Utd are in ‘pole position’ in this race due to the Amorim connection.
Amorim likes to deploy a back three system so he needs proper depth in this position. Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martínez and Harry Maguire are the CB options the Portuguese currently has at the moment.
However, Evans, Lindelof and Maguire have entered the final year of their respective contracts, while Martinez has been struggling with injury problems in recent times. On the other hand, Yoro hasn’t played a single minute thus far this season after joining the club last summer due to injury problems.
Diomande is a talented player and possesses high potential so he would be a shrewd acquisition for the Red Devils if they purchase him. However, it is going to be interesting to see whether the record Premier League eventually opt to make a concrete approach to sign the Ivory Coast international next year.
