Man Utd consider muscling in on £35m Chelsea and Spurs target after scouting mission

Chelsea and Tottenham both showed interest in Lecce full-back Patrick Dorgu earlier this summer but now Manchester United are also tracking the highly-rated 20-year-old Dane

Posted Sunday, December 08, 2024 by mirror.co.uk

Manchester United are tracking Lecce starlet Patrick Dorgu

Manchester United are considering muscling in on Chelsea and Tottenham target Patrick Dorgu.

The 20-year-old left-back, who was recently crowned Denmark's Young Player of the Year, is expected to leave Italian side Lecce at the end of the season.

And United sent club representatives to Italy to watch the highly-rated starlet last weekend when Lecce snatched a late draw against Juventus courtesy of a stoppage-time leveller.

Ruben Amorim is keen to strengthen at left-wing back and Dorgu, who has recently been operating as a right winger, is the latest player to be subjected to scouting checks.

Sources believe the Red Devils were also keeping a watchful eye over Juventus' attacking starlet Kenan Yildiz during the match.

Leece are understood to have rebuffed approaches from both Chelsea and Tottenham for Dorgu during the summer transfer window which fell short of their valuation.

The big-spending Blues were considering signing the versatile defender and loaning him to sister club Strasbourg to aid his development, though discussions failed to bear fruit.

Dorgu, who has three goals in 13 Serie A appearances this season, is expected to cost up to £35million but Lecce chief Pantaleo Corvino has already ruled out a January sale, telling Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this week: "A player like that has admirers, of course. And, for him, there are certainly many, even abroad. But Dorgu will stay here and then, in the summer, we'll talk about it because his destiny is set. The future belongs to him."

However, the talented Dane is not the only name on United's radar amid Luke Shaw's ongoing injury struggles with Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies, Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez and Benfica starlet Alvaro Carreras - a Carrington academy graduate - also on their radar.

United appear ready to play the long game with Davies, who remains in talks with Bayern over a contract extension but an agreement is yet to have been tied up between the parties.

Reports in Germany this week suggest Bayern have made progress during negotiations with the Canada international over fresh terms but United and Real Madrid are both watching developments from afar and can enter formal talks with Davies in January when he enters the final six months of his deal.

The 24-year-old, who has long been open to a Premier League move, ticks many boxes but his salary demands could prove problematic for United if he is to depart Bayern on a free transfer as INEOS continue to implement various cost-cutting measures in a bid to tighten up their finances.

It's understood scouting of Kerkez has been an extensive process which began long before the appointment of Amorim but interest, at this stage, has not gone beyond that.

Meanwhile, ex-United starlet Carreras was sold to Benfica in a deal worth around £7.5million including add-ons last summer but crucially, the Red Devils have a buy-back clause worth just shy of £17m as the Spaniard continues to flourish in Lisbon.