Man Utd transfer news: Red Devils and Man City battle to sign Kylian Mbappe

Mbappe to Manchester?

Manchester United and Manchester City are squaring up for a summer showdown over Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe, claims the Sunday Mirror, with the paper reporting that the French club may be forced to offload their 19-year-old ace because of financial fair play irregularities.

Mbappe, who last week became the youngest Frenchman to score in a World Cup when he netted against Peru, moved from Monaco to PSG last summer in a £166m deal with an initial loan agreement. But the Mirror claims that the French champions “are being investigated over financial fair play and could face huge fines if found guilty”.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

That’s because they also shelled out £198m on Neymar, bringing the Brazilian to Paris in a move that hasn’t worked out that well for either party. It has been rumoured recently that Neymar wants to join Real Madrid but the French media claim that PSG won’t countenance selling their star asset. In that case, offloading Mbappe could help them to trim their wage bill to Uefa’s satisfaction.

Apparently the two Manchester clubs are circling the teenage frontman, with United particularly keen. The Mirror says that they “have registered their interest in Mbappe with the teenager’s advisers” and they have let it be known to PSG that they would be willing to give them unsettled winger Anthony Martial in part exchange, a player who the Red Devils rate at what some may consider an exorbitant £80m.

That means they would still have to stump up £86m in cash but the Mirror says they are willing to do that because Jose Mourinho rates Mbappe so highly.

United gunning for Gaya

The Mirror also states that United have identified Valencia left-back Jose Luis Gaya as a possible summer purchase having given up the chase for Juventus defender Alex Sandro.

Mourinho refuses to meet the Italian club’s £50m asking price for Sandro, and instead the Special One has turned his attention to the 23-year-old Gaya, who was consistently reliable for Valencia last season and is valued at a modest £30m by the Spanish outfit.