Man United will be keeping tabs on Sporting Lisbon centre-back Zeno Debast over the coming months, according to reports.
The Belgian international has been described as a “colossus” by some in the media, and head coach Ruben Amorim will be aware of his talent already.
Debast joined Sporting from Anderlecht for an initial €15.5m at the start of last season, and Amorim coached him for a few months before leaving Portugal for Old Trafford.
GiveMeSport claim that the Red Devils boss is reluctant to return to sign players from his former team, and he wants scouts to keep him on their “watchlist” until January to determine whether he possesses the capabilities to step up to the Premier League.
Debast is likely to cost a sizeable amount
It is believed that the 21-year-old has a release clause in his contract worth around £70m, and Sporting are not desperate to sell, having raised £64m from Viktor Gyokeres’s move to Arsenal back in July.
In addition, the Liga Portugal champions prefer to keep hold of their players for more than a year, and with Debast having only made the switch to Lisbon last summer, they may not be willing to let him go, especially midway through the season.
Do Man United need to strengthen the backline?
On the face of it, Amorim has enough cover in his back three. Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Ayden Heaven, Noussair Mazraoui and Tyler Fredricson can all be deployed there if required.
However, the Red Devils’ defensive record at the beginning of the campaign has been less than stellar. They have conceded 4 goals in their first 3 league matches, and they let in 2 against fourth-tier Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup. If that trend continues, reinforcements at the back may be required when the transfer window reopens.
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 National World’s Football News Network.
