Manchester United will have to wait until next year to sign OGC Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka due to a UEFA rule around multi-club ownership.
As per GiveMeSport the Poland international has emerged as a potential replacement for the haphazard Andre Onana between the United posts, but the Red Devils face a hurdle no other club would need to deal with.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS became co-owners of United last year, taking over football operations at the club as part of the deal with majority owners the Glazer family.
The pharmaceutical company already owned Ligue 1 side Nice and Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport so had a track record of calling the shots at football clubs, but it also earned them special attention from UEFA as the governing body looked to keep things fair.
There were initially fears that Nice and United would not be able to both compete in the Europa League, but ultimately UEFA allowed the Red Devils and Les Aiglons to take part in the competition.
However, in a statement released by UEFA at the time – which also cleared Manchester City and Girona to both compete in the Champions League – it was revealed that the clubs concerned had committed to a temporary halt on transfer activity between themselves.
The statement read: “as additional evidence of their independence, the concerned clubs committed to the following: the clubs will not transfer players to each other, whether permanently or on loan, directly or indirectly, from July 2024 until September 2025, with the exception of pre-existing transfer agreements that had been entered into before the opening of the CFCB proceedings.”
United have already been disadvantaged by this rule after being blocked in their move for centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo last summer, but this hasn’t stopped them going back for another look at Nice’s backline.
Regardless of the UEFA rules, it was reported yesterday that the Old Trafford club have already “entered talks” for the towering shotstopper with interest increasing from other top European sides.
The Red Devils have a lot of other strengthening to do, with most transfer headlines dominated by the Viktor Gyokeres saga and an expected move for Bryan Mbeumo.
With money therefore likely to be tight this summer United may prefer to play a waiting game with Bulka regardless of the UEFA regulations.
The 25-year-old’s contract with Nice expires in the summer of 2026, so United may be perfectly happy to wait until then to pick him up for free, but Onana’s erratic form is a very real problem for manager Ruben Amorim.
Bulka is not the only keeper being looked at, with United thought to also hold an interest in Aston Villa’s World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez.
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
