Manchester United have submitted an improved bid for Brentford star Bryan Mbeumo but may miss out on the forward as there’s now a “good chance” he will “choose Spurs” ahead of the Red Devils.
United have already secured the signing of Matheus Cunha after they triggered his £62.5m release clause to bring him in from Wolves and want Mbeumo to play in the other inverted No.10 position in Ruben Amorim’s now infamous 3-4-3 formation.
They saw a bid of £45m plus £10m in add-ons rejected by Brentford for the 25-year-old earlier this month, but were confident of wrapping up the deal with Mbeumo keen on the move to Old Trafford.
Thomas Frank’s move to Tottenham threw a spanner in the works as the Danish boss wants to bring Mbeumo with him from Brentford, but reports had suggested Spurs had backed away from a possible move as it supposedly became clear that the Cameroon international only had eyes for United.
But it was claimed on Thursday that Spurs are still in the running as chairman Daniel Levy works with Frank to rebuild the squad ahead of a season with Champions League football.
In a bid to avoid Spurs swooping in, transfer expert Duncan Castles claims United have now submitted a new offer worth more than £60m for Mbeumo.
Although it’s not clear what the make-up of that deal is, no matter the up-front fee and add-ons, it looks set to be rejected by Brentford as the Bees hold out for a fee closer to £70m for the winger, who got 20 goals and eight assists in the Premier League last term.
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The Bees may also be boosted by Castles’ revelation that “there’s a good chance” that Mbeumo might “choose Spurs ahead of Manchester United”, offering the prospect of a bidding war between the two clubs.
Castles cited two “obvious reasons” for Mbeumo’s U-turn on The Transfers Podcast.
“The indication from Manchester United was Mbeumo had chosen to move there and verbally told them that his preference was to move there,” Castles said. “But I’m not hearing exactly the same on that.
“I think there is a good chance that Mbeumo, should Tottenham get to the price that Brentford are asking, that he might choose Spurs ahead of Manchester United.
“There are a couple of obvious reasons for that. One is that it allows him to stay in London and secondly it allows him to carry on playing for Thomas Frank, who has joined Tottenham as the replacement for Ange Postecoglou.”
