Man Utd ‘make contact’ over deal for Semenyo alternative as Roma ‘go all out’ for Zirkzee | OneFootball

Man Utd have ‘made contact’ to sign RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande after Man City won the race to sign Antoine Semenyo, according to reports.

Semenyo had become a brilliant market opportunity for many clubs with the Bournemouth winger available in January for £65m, due to a release clause in his contract.

But The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealed on Tuesday that Semenyo’s ‘preference is to move to Manchester City in January’ after months of speculation.

It is his ‘desire to win trophies’ that led him to the decision and on Man Utd, Ornstein added: ‘Manchester United also tried their best to sign the forward, but a move in January was always going to be a stretch and the club only wished to bring in players who are eager to join.’

And now a reliable X account has claimed that Man Utd have now ‘made contact’ over a move for RB Leipzig star Diomande as they look to land an alternative to Semenyo.

The account wrote on X: ‘Exclusive. We can confirm that @ManUtd have made contact with RB Leipzig in the last few hours regarding Yan Diomande. Manchester United are big admirers of the player #mufc.’

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano revealed earlier this week that Joshua Zirkzee would be more likely to leave Man Utd if they signed Semenyo or another attacker.

Romano said on his YouTube channel: “We will see what happens with Semenyo, and this, guys, remember this point, could be an important deal to understand what happens with Joshua Zirkzee.”

Romano continued: “Last week a meeting took place between Roma and the agents of Joshua Zirkzee. This week, Roma have been advancing in the conversations with the camp of Zirkzee.

“Roma are pushing, they want the player and consider him a top priority. The manager of Roma, Gian Piero Gasperini, is pushing to have the player as soon as possible at the beginning of January.

“Man Utd don’t want Zirkzee to leave at the beginning of January because they are short of options with Amad [Diallo] and [Bryan] Mbeumo at AFCON, Bruno [Fernandes] now injured, [Kobbie] Mainoo at the moment still not available.

“So Man Utd at the moment are still not giving the green light. Let’s see the timing and let’s see the official proposal from Roma, what kind of formula it’ll be.

“But on the player side Roma are making some progress. They’re trying to tempt Zirkzee by telling the player something like ‘here, you can be a regular starter, play every game, Italian and European football, you can be the hero of the city of Rome.'”

And now Dutch outlet Voetbal International insists that Roma ‘goes all out’ for Zirkzee in January and the Serie A side ‘want to move quickly’.

The Italian outfit ‘intend to loan Zirkzee for six months, with a mandatory purchase option’ but a quick deal is not guaranteed with Man Utd suffering from injuries to key players and Africa Cup of Nations absentees.

For Zirkzee it’s ‘crucial that he plays plenty of minutes in the next six months’ as he looks to get into the Netherlands squad for the World Cup in North America in the summer.

The report adds: ‘Zirkzee has had positive talks with Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini and is enthusiastic about the plans, but the final say lies with Manchester United. It seems the payment structure still needs to be finalized. The player himself has reached an agreement.’