Man Utd ‘need to come close’ to record-breaking fee as Everton star could be next marquee signing | OneFootball

Man Utd are ready to add Everton attacker Iliman Ndiaye to their list of transfer targets ahead of the summer transfer window, according to reports.

The Red Devils spent over £200m on five new signings in the summer transfer window as INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe prioritised the club’s attack.

Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko all arrived at Old Trafford in big-money deals after only four Premier League clubs scored fewer goals than Man Utd in the 2024/25 season.

However, there were expectations among the fanbase that Man Utd would also strengthen their midfield, which was an obvious weak spot last season.

Man Utd did make enquiries for Brighton’s Carlos Baleba and Tottenham’s Conor Gallagher, while he was at Atletico Madrid, but didn’t reinforce that area at all in the summer.

There have been rumours that the Red Devils could strengthen midfield in the January transfer window – but it seems they could now keep their powder dry until the summer as they look to save money for a couple of big signings.

That will allow Man Utd to have a bigger budget in the summer transfer window and be able to go after new midfielders and go for attacking players like Ndiaye at Everton too.

Our friends at TEAMtalk have claimed that Man Utd are ‘expected to place’ Africa Cup of Nations winner Ndiaye on their list of targets for the summer.

Ndiaye has been one of Everton’s better players this season with four goals and two assists in 17 Premier League appearances this campaign.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding who the club’s next manager could be, it is understood that ‘the internal admiration for Ndiaye is unlikely to go away’.

Man Utd ‘would need to stump up a big fee’ to land the Senegal international and ‘would likely need to come close to matching’ the £75m they paid Everton for Romelu Lukaku in July 2017, a club-record sale for the Toffees.

Michael Carrick has done a brilliant job in his first two matches as interim boss at Man Utd with two wins from two against Man City and Arsenal.

But Paul Scholes reckons Carrick still has an upward battle on his hands to become the permanent boss at Old Trafford with a move to Tottenham more likely.

Scholes said on The Good, The Bad, & The Football podcast: “He’s come into the job now and it’s been that bad for a year that it couldn’t really get any worse so the pressure isn’t really on you while you’re interim manager.

“Once you take that job full-time, at the start of the season next year, let’s say, all of a sudden you’ve got to be winning games straightaway. They will be scarred a little bit from the Ole [Gunnar Solksjaer] thing. If the Ole thing hadn’t have happened then it would probably be more likely.

“But if Michael has got to go up against, say, Thomas Tuchel in the summer then there’s only one winner if you’re looking at coaching big clubs and winning big prizes so you can’t really compete with that.”

When asked what his next job could be, Scholes replied: “It could be like a Tottenham manager from this [for Carrick]. It wouldn’t surprise me.”