United left scratching their heads as best-laid plans for wonderkid’s development hit serious snag – report

Manchester United sent quite a few promising academy graduates out on loan after they outgrew academy football. One of them was Sekou Kone, who joined INEOS-owned FC Lausanne-Sport after impressing them during a month-long trial. However, his loan spell has not started in the most auspicious manner, with the Mali U23 international only managing a 10-minute cameo and being forced to watch from the bench on two occasions. One of the major reasons why the Red Devils opted to send the midfield wonderkid to the Swiss side was their participation in the UEFA Conference League. Nightmare loan for Sekou Kone Playing in Europe would have stood the Malian in good stead and would have been a valuable learning experience ahead of his summer return to his parent club. However, as relayed by The Peoples Person, Les bleu et blanc opted to excluded the United academy graduate from their Conference League squad, much to the dismay of the team from Old Trafford. According to The Daily Mail, United have been left scratching their heads as the 20-year-old had greatly impressed the Swiss Super League team, which eventually led to the loan move. However, the 20-time English league champions are still hopeful the Mali U23 international can learn from this difficult period and still convert the loan stint into a successful one. United not at all pleased “When Sekou Kone’s loan move to Ineos-owned Lausanne-Sport was confirmed, the noise from staff at the club was overwhelmingly positive about the midfielder’s physical capabilities in his first few training sessions. “However, that positivity has been undermined by Kone being denied a spot in the Swiss side’s Conference League squad. “The ability to compete in the Conference League was one of the things about the Lausanne loan that appealed to academy staff at United, a move which had originally been planned for last summer before a late U-turn. “Confidential reached out to Lausanne-Sport for clarification on the player’s Conference League omission, but United sources are still hopeful the loan can be beneficial to the Mali midfielder’s development.” No United debut as yet Sekou Kone had caught Ruben Amorim’s eye last season, but despite being named in the matchday squad on three occasions, he failed to make his debut. A horrific eye injury put paid to any chances of a breakthrough this season, which prompted United to loan him out in the winter. The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25