Amorim Has ‘Personally Endorsed’ Move For £35M Rated Midfielder Likened To Yaya Toure As Man Utd Begin ‘Talks’

BACK David Tully Dec 17th 2025 Man Utd have started “talks” with the representatives of Trabzonspor midfielder Christ Inao Oulai, according to reports. The 19-year-old is attracting plenty of interest from across Europe, but TEAMtalk claim that the Red Devils are hoping to steal a march on their rivals Manchester City, who are also keen on the player. Oulai has already been capped twice for Ivory Coast, and his energetic, attack-minded approach has led to comparisons with fellow countryman Yaya Toure. Trabzonspor only recruited the teenager from Bastia for €5.5m in August, so a transfer is unlikely to be sanctioned in January. Amorim is backing the club’s pursuit TEAMtalk report that United head coach Ruben Amorim has “personally endorsed” a move for Oulai. He is said to be keen on adding a midfielder to the first-team squad with his profile – someone who is athletic and can cover a lot of ground. Oulai also fits into the club’s new transfer policy of recruiting up-and-coming talent, rather than ready-made players who are at the wrong end of their careers. Man Utd will not be able to secure Oulai on the cheap As mentioned, the Ivorian international has only been at Trabzonspor for a matter of months, and the Turkish Super Lig are expected to demand a considerably higher sum than what they paid for him last summer. An asking price of around €40m (£35m) has been suggested, which is a lot for a player who was playing in France’s second tier until the start of this season. He is also very inexperienced, having made just 18 senior appearances so far. For £35m, the Red Devils could pursue the likes of Atletico Madrid’s Conor Gallagher, Wolves’ Joao Gomes or Olympiakos’s Christos Mouzakitis instead, so a lot could depend on how highly the club rate Oulai. Read more about the Manchester United First Team Squad for 2025/26 here David Tully David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for the Football News Network.