Liverpool are the most realistic Premier League destination for Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies when he becomes a free agent, according to reports.

Davies is out of contract at the end of the season and attracting interest from a host of clubs, including Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Madrid have been linked with the Canadian international for several years but are now competing with the Red Devils for his signature.

New United head coach Ruben Amorim has reportedly made a new left-wing-back his top priority and there are not many better out there than Davies.

However, it appears that the prospect of signing the 24-year-old on a free transfer appeals to nearly every top club in Europe, while Bayern are working hard to agree on a new contract.

Liverpool being added to the mix indicates that they are looking to move on from Andy Robertson, who has made 317 appearances for them in seven-and-a-half years.

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Competition from Madrid and Bayern will be fierce but the Reds are reportedly ‘the most plausible Premier League destination for him’.

This is according to The Athletic, who says Barcelona are also keen but lack the necessary funds, while Chelsea and Arsenal are ‘monitoring’ the player.

United’s interest appears to be genuine but their current ‘upheaval’ and ‘their current lack of involvement in the Champions League’ means Davies sees them as a ‘less attractive’ option.

The report claims:

Several big European clubs have shown an interest in signing Davies.

The most high-profile of these are Real Madrid. They and the player’s representatives reached an understanding in February over what the terms might be of any potential transfer, were he to have signed for them for a fee last summer or as a free agent with a signing-on bonus this coming summer.

Barcelona have also shown interest but there are serious doubts as to whether they could afford Davies. Madrid’s arch-rivals are still operating above their La Liga-imposed salary limit and need to raise funds to register summer 2024 signings Dani Olmo and Pau Victor for the second half of the current league season.

Manchester United have previously been linked with Davies, but sources close to the player say the upheaval at the club and their current lack of involvement in the Champions League makes them less attractive from his end. At a time when budgets are tight at United, Davies would be a high-earner even if arriving as a free agent and club sources say it is not a priority deal at present.

Multiple industry sources have told The Athletic that Liverpool have expressed an interest in signing the player and that they would be the most plausible Premier League destination for him. However, a move to Anfield is considered an unlikely outcome at present and senior Liverpool sources have strongly denied any interest in a deal.

Other sides, such as Premier League duo Arsenal and Chelsea, are monitoring the left-back.

Bayern and Davies’ agents have been in regular contact in recent months, including via a video call last week. Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have said Bayern are very optimistic and feel there is a good chance Davies will extend, given the player feels at home in the club and city after almost seven years, and is a popular member of the dressing room.

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Funny the things upon which a football match can turn.

This 2-1 Europa League victory at Viktoria Plzen was for a long time a game going familiarly askew for this early and incoherent iteration of Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United. They are still visibly a team, squad and manager learning as they go, adapting to each other and making plenty of mistakes as they do so.

One of those mistakes had given Viktoria Plzen a lead early in the second half after what was largely a non-event of a first half in which United’s brand of stale and sterile domination brought back unpleasant memories of the Louis van Gaal years.

Onana tried to play a pass to Matthijs de Ligt who was in no position to receive it allowing the home side in and giving Matej ‘Wait, That Matej Vydra?’ Vydra to score.

Shortly after that, a frustrated and frustrating Marcus Rashford – already on a booking – leapt inexplicably into a wild challenge in which he was lucky to make contact with his trailing rather than leading leg. Second yellow thus dodged, he was swiftly hooked by Amorim to save him from himself.

It’s one of the most basic plays in the managerial armoury, but it worked. Rasmus Hojlund replaced Rashford and was excellent as United took charge of the final half-hour of the game to such an extent that the winner when it came in the closing minutes was entirely deserved.

Fellow substitute Mason Mount created the equaliser for Hojlund, but it was the winner that really caught the eye. The swiftness of thought and precision of execution from Bruno Fernandes’ pass was matched by Hojlund’s touch and finish to complete a turnaround of greater significance than might be immediately apparent.

For one thing, any win is particularly welcome for United at the moment. We all know it’s going to take time and at least a couple of transfer windows for Amorim to achieve his full vision. Anything that helps keep the mood up on the road to that potential future is crucial.

And more prosaically, this is a win that massively boosts United’s chances of a top-eight finish and avoiding the play-off round unpleasantness. Amorim has happily stated the obvious that he would rather have more time with his players on the training ground than worry about jamming a two-legged tie into an already packed schedule, and United now have that in their hands.

These three points lift them to fifth ahead of the late games with winnable games to come in the new year.

The concerns that remain after this ultimately invigorating win remain familiar, though. The defence remains a confused mess. Onana doesn’t appear to be relishing the task and Amorim is yet to really hit upon the ideal formula for his wing-backs, with neither the full-back-pushed-forward or winger-pushed-back approaches quite working out just yet.

United are also still finding it hard to create chances and then too often butchering the ones they do create. In a frantic closing period here they had frequent overloaded counter-attacks from which they never ever really looked like profiting.

We are starting to get an idea of which players might be able to adapt and profit in this brave new world. The slight worry is that it’s the same few players each time. Hojlund is very obviously one, Amad Diallo very obviously another.

Bruno doesn’t appear to have an obvious spot to which he’s ideally suited in this system, but possesses both the necessary technical quality and footballing intelligence to adapt and find a way to make an impression.

Rashford had, until tonight, been another player who had started well under Amorim. Inadvertently and fortuitously, he still made a big difference to United’s fortunes tonight.

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Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim says his players were “aggressive” and “controlled the transitions very well” in their comeback victory against Viktoria Plzen.

The Red Devils came from behind to beat Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in the Europa League on Thursday.

Amorim made some changes before the hour mark, with Rasmus Hojlund making a huge impact off the bench.

The Danish striker scored both of United’s goals to earn them three valuable points, lifting them to fifth in the league phase table, four points behind leaders Athletic Bilbao.

United ended Plzen’s 12-match home unbeaten run in Europe (including qualifiers), becoming the first foreign side to win there since Barcelona did so in November 2022.

It was also the Red Devils’ first away win in Europe since beating Real Betis in March 2023.

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Amorim says his players showed improvement after a slow first half and praised those on the pitch for their reaction to going 1-0 down.

“We improved during the game,” he said. “We controlled the game in the first half, but without any great chances.

“We lacked speed and movement and we didn’t control the ball because the pitch was difficult to make the connections with the strikers. Viktoria didn’t have chances either.

“In the second half, we gave a goal away but we reacted well. We pushed the opponents to their own half and we managed to score. The win is important at the moment and it’s good to prepare for the next game.

“The speed improved. I told the players we need more movement in front because they have to feel we are a danger. We changed a little bit of our game and the players from the bench also helped. We improved not just the way we play, but also the speed of the game.

“We are improving in some details. We controlled the transitions very well. We were aggressive when we lost the ball. We need to spend more time near the opposition goal.”

On Hojlund, Amorim added: “He is improving. He is more near the goal now. He knows better the movement he has to do. He could score more this evening. but he is scoring, working and controlling the ball better.”

United captain Bruno Fernandes praised his teammates for coming behind to win in Czechia.

“It was a good performance overall. I think in the final third we could have kept the ball a bit more but the man-marking from them was difficult to get away from. Sometimes you just have to pass and run to try to find the gaps in behind.

“In the first half we did it better than in the second half, when we let the game go a little bit in the way that they wanted, a bit more transitional. Then we dealt with that and in the end we got the win.

“We want to play from the back and everyone knows that then we have to make the right decision on the pitch. Andre [Onana] thought that Matta [De Ligt] could get on the ball but he missed it and they scored a goal.

“It is not about Andre making the mistake, we don’t look at individuals here when something happens on the wrong side. We have huge belief in him. He knows he made a mistake because he is a clever guy, he is going to help us many times and we trust his qualities on the ball.

“Mistakes are part of football. If they don’t happen then goals don’t happen. But we did well to show the resilience to come back and find the victory.”

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Match-winner Hojlund added: “It was a bit difficult out there. It was very cold today and the pitch was a bit boggy as well, but we solved it in the second half.

“I think we didn’t play too direct in the first half. We needed to play over them and behind them more because there was space to run into. Especially with the boggy pitch I was talking about, if we won the second balls, you can play from there.”

Hojlund continued: “We still need more time. It’s still very early days. It’s about getting our routines together and its getting there. But it still needs practice and time.

“I know it sounds odd, but we don’t get enough time on the training ground, so we have to train it during the matches. But it’s getting better and better.”