Manchester United transfer news: Why Jose Mourinho has cooled his attempts to sign Victor Lindelof and will turn his attentions to Kostas Manolas
Portuguese boss is looking to bolster his backline by launching a £47.6m bid for the defender
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WITH talks over a deal for Benfica defender Victor Lindelof stalling in the last week, Manchester United are turning their attention to Roma centre-back Kostas Manolas.
The Greece international has been a rumoured target of United’s for around 12 months, but manager Jose Mourinho’s admiration of the 25-year-old defender stretches back much further.
Here look at Mourinho’s long-time admiration for the defender.
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Mourinho first targeted Manolas while in charge of Chelsea in the summer of 2015. However, the Blues decided to prioritise pursuing a deal for then-Everton defender John Stones instead.
The Stamford Bridge club reportedly offered round £40million for Stones, only to see their advances rebuffed by the Toffees. When it became clear that Everton would not be willing to part ways with the England youngster, Chelsea turned their attention back to Manolas.
Italian media outlet Tuttomercatoweb reported that the Blues made a deadline day bid for the former Olympiacos star, but Roma were not willing to sell. They instead made a last-ditch, cut-price defensive signing in the form of Papy Djilobodji from Nantes for just £2.75million.
With Djilobodji, who now plays for Sunderland, evidently not in the same bracket as Manolas, Mourinho and Chelsea were again linked with a move for the Serie A star.
But when the transfer window re-opened in January, Mourinho had parted ways with Chelsea and any move for Manolas lost steam.
When the Portuguese tactician took over from Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford in June last year, it was no surprise to see the 20-time champions of England linked with a big-money summer move for his favourite defensive target.
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Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport reported that United and Chelsea were both interested in signing Manolas, while it has been reported the Old Trafford club had lodged a £28million bid for the player which Roma had once again turned down.
United instead signed Eric Bailly from Villarreal for £30million, and the 22-year-old Ivory Coast international has been a revelation at the back for the Red Devils.
But with Bailly participating in this month’s African Cup of Nation, leaving Mourinho only able to call upon Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and the fit-again Phil Jones as natural options at centre-back, a move for further reinforcements is being widely anticipated.
It appears as though Benfica’s 22-year-old ball-playing central defender Lindelof was set to make a switch to the red side of Manchester, but talk over that potential move has cooled in recent weeks, so a bid for Manolas could yet again be on the cards.
Blessed with tremendous pace, strong in the air and comfortable with the ball at his feet, Manolas has everything managers look for in a modern defender.
And even if a deal for Lindelof is not yet dead in the water, United might be better off focusing their efforts on finally securing Manolas.
The Roma man has won a remarkable 80 percent of his aerial duels this season, better than any United defender — Smalling is closest with 73.9 percent — while Lindelof has won 61.3 percent of his aerial duels.
Manolas has also won the same amount of tackles as Lindelof (14) despite having played fewer minutes — 1497 to 1800 — and the Greek has made significantly more interceptions, with 44 to the Swede’s tally of 36.