Man Utd ‘lead’ Bayern in race for £77m Leipzig star as ‘concrete talks’ held with agent | OneFootball

Manchester United have held ‘concrete talks’ with the representatives of Castello Lukeba after the centre-back told RB Leipzig he is ‘ready for a new challenge’.

The Red Devils bosses are focused on rebuilding their midfield as a priority this summer and having already agreed a £35m deal with Atalanta for Ederson, they continue to be linked with a host of other players to offset the exit of Casemiro at the end of his contract and the likely departure of Manuel Ugarte.

They’ve bowed out of the race for Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson after Manchester City had a £120m bid for the England international rejected this week, but are considering moves for West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes, Brighton’s Carlos Baleba and Bournemouth star Alex Scott.

A report on Thursday revealed they’re also ‘preparing an offer’ for Lens’ Mamadou Sangare, but German outlet Fussball Daten now claim they’re also considering moves to strengthen their defence and have ‘marked Lukeba as their most important defensive goal for this summer window’.

Lukeba, who joined Leipzig from Lyon for £26m in the summer of 2023, is said to be ‘ready for a new challenge’ but will not come cheap as he’s bound by a contract until 2029 which contains an exit clause of between €80m [£69m] and €90m [£77m].

United and other suitors will be buoyed by the revelation that that exit clause expires before the end of the transfer window and that Leipzig could ‘accept reasonable offers’ around the €60m [£52m] mark. He’s currently valued at €50m [£43m] by Transfermarkt.

Man Utd lead Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern and Man City

The report claims Barcelona were ‘first to make direct contacts’ with the player’s representatives and Chelsea are on hand to ‘prepare an aggressive package’ for his services as he’s been ‘high on the Blues scouting list for more than two years’.

Bayern Munich and Manchester City also ‘remain in the race’ but it’s United who are ‘currently leading the field of interested parties’.

‘Determined to get ahead of other heavyweights, the United management has already started concrete talks with the player’s representatives’, the report adds.

When asked about his future in December, when Bayern were rumoured to be particularly keen on his services, Lukeba told Bild: “I want to get back into the Champions League with RB. What comes after that, we’ll see.

“In football there are many rumors. I am a young player who wants to gain experience. It’s important to keep a cool head.”

After achieving his goal of getting Leipzig back into the Champions League, Lukeba wants out.