Given the injury problems at the back this season, Manchester United could do with additions to the backline in the summer.
Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans, and Lisandro Martinez are currently out injured, while Leny Yoro also hobbled off against Arsenal at the weekend.
The situation got so dire that Ayden Heaven, all of 18, was thrown into the deep end by Ruben Amorim due to the lack of options and he ended up impressing against his former club.
Given the club’s financial issues, a huge outlay might not be possible which is why the Red Devils are keeping their eye open on bargain deals with Tuttomercatoweb revealing that Genoa’s Koni de Winter is on the club’s radar.
De Winter on United’s radar
The former Juventus youngster has impressed since his permanent move last summer to the Luigi Ferraris Stadium and his displays have attracted the interest of plenty of Europe’s elites.
He has helped keep six clean sheets while also scoring thrice. And United, West Ham, Porto, Tottenham as well as Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are all monitoring his progress with interest.
There is also interest from within the Serie A with Inter Milan, Roma and Napoli also keeping an eye on the defensive ace. Genoa had signed him for €8 million and are open to letting him go should an offer of €30 million come their way.
“Genoa’s Belgian centre-back Koni De Winter will be one of the big stars of the next transfer window. Today De Winter is worth much more: the figure set by the rossoblù club for his transfer is 30 million euros.
Bidding war on the cards
“A very important request that does not seem to discourage the interested clubs because the 22-year-old central defender already in the Belgian national team is a player destined to increase his value even more.
“In Italy today there are three clubs most interested: on one side the Italian champion Inter who sees in De Winter the perfect player to rejuvenate the defense just as the Oaktree ownership wants, on the other Napoli and Roma, clubs that already in January carried out rather important surveys.
“But De Winter is now a player who is also sought after abroad: from West Ham to Porto, passing through Manchester United, Tottenham and two big names in the Bundesliga such as Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.”
United have “moved to ask for information” in recent weeks with the Belgium international ready to take the next step in his career after two years at Genoa.
A summer bidding war would suit the Italian team just fine for the “gifted” player who has a contract until 2028.
Feature image Simone Arveda via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
