Journalist Claims That Man Utd January Transfer Is “99%” Done

BACK David Tully Dec 10th 2025 Man Utd midfielder Kobbie Mainoo could be off to Napoli when the January transfer window opens, according to reports in Italy. Journalist Luca Cerchione (quotes via Sport Witness) says that a contact close to the Serie A club’s assistant manager, Cristian Stellini, has told him the move is all but done: “In the past few days, I received a phone call from a friend of Mr Stellini, who informed me that he had learned that there had been a significant acceleration in the sale of Mainoo, even talking about percentages close to 99%. Naturally, the person who gave me this transfer rumour didn’t cite Stellini as his source.” Whether Cerchione’s source is accurate, we shall have to wait and see, but Napoli are known to be one of the clubs pursuing the player’s signature. Will Mainoo leave on a permanent basis? At the moment, it is felt that a loan until the end of the season is the most likely possibility, but the Red Devils were reluctant to sanction such a deal last summer. Mainoo has been on the periphery of the first team this season, but he is still regarded as Bruno Fernandes’s backup, so it is not clear whether head coach Ruben Amorim would accept the player’s departure unless a replacement is signed. The Man Utd star does have other suitors While Napoli appear to be the frontrunners to snap up Mainoo, there are other clubs in the mix. West Ham and Newcastle have been credited with an interest, along with Chelsea and Tottenham, in recent months. Based on the noises coming out of Italy, though, it does seem as if Napoli are confident that they will win the race for his services. Things could move quickly over the next two to three weeks. 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.