Manchester United have ‘turned their attention’ to a potential Chelsea swap as Sir Jim Ratcliffe refuses to be ‘pushed’ into a deal for Bryan Mbeumo.
United completed a £62.5m deal for Matheus Cunha early in the window, while Diego Leon has also joined for £3.3m, but they’ve gone weeks without getting another transfer over the line as the club chiefs put all their efforts into landing Mbeumo from Brentford.
They’ve so far had two bids rejected, the latest thought to be worth £62.5m, but transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insisted last week that the “deal is absolutely alive”.
He said: “The contacts are still ongoing between United, Brentford, people involved in the deal. Mbeumo still wants to go to Manchester United, and the club maintains their confidence, their optimism, to get the green light and sign Bryan Mbeumo in the next days.
“So still no breakthrough in this story as of tonight but Manchester United keep advancing to find the right structure for the deal. They are working on easy and difficult add-ons, trying to make Brentford happy with their final proposal. So Man United are still on it. The Bryan Mbeumo deal is absolutely alive at this moment.”
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But The Guardian claimed on Wednesday that the Red Devils’ ‘push to buy Bryan Mbeumo has stalled after Brentford raised their valuation to closer to £70m, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe intent on not being pushed into paying more than his club’s £65m valuation of the forward’.
After it was known that Mbeumo wanted to join Man Utd, Brentford ‘privately indicated a medical was expected imminently’ but now both Ratcliffe and technical director Jason Wilcox ‘do not wish to be held to ransom and are determined to be patient’.
And now The i Paper claim ‘United have turned their attentions to Jackson as they desperately look to add firepower to their underperforming strike force’.
While no bids have been made yet, ‘interest is there, especially if he can be acquired at a knockdown price’ on the back of Chelsea signing both Joao Pedro and Liam Delap this summer to compete for his No.9 spot in Enzo Maresca’s starting XI.
And the report claims Jackson could ‘trade places’ with Alejandro Garnacho, who ‘retain an admiration for how Garnacho carries the ball and his willingness to take on defenders’, despite Chelsea making Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers their ‘top target’.
Reports in Spain also claim Chelsea have ‘offered’ Real Madrid Jackson in a ‘direct exchange’ for Arsenal and Liverpool target Rodrygo.
The i Paper states that Chelsea and United value their respective assets at around the £60m mark, though both are thought to be open to price reductions.
The report adds:
‘Both United and Chelsea would prefer straight player sales, especially United, given Garnacho is an academy graduate and any revenue generated goes down as pure profit in the eyes of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules.
‘However, one source admitted some form of swap agreement could see both deals come to fruition.’
