Manchester United look set to close out a busy summer transfer window with the signing of a promising youngster before Friday night’s deadline.
This is the first window in which minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos team have been in charge of the club’s football operations, with the billionaire overseeing a £140million spending spree which has seen Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui snapped up.
The club are also working to sign Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Manuel Ugarte, who, like the previous four signings, will be expected to make an immediate first-team contribution. But the club are also looking to the future and are on the brink of a deal for one of the game’s best young talents.
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According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, 18-year-old midfielder Sekou Kone arrived in Manchester on Wednesday evening and will undergo a medical on Thursday. This will be the last step in his move, which will then be announced.
Kone is set to join from Malian side Guidars FC, with the central midfielder catching the eye of scouts from some of Europe’s biggest clubs during the Under-17s World Cup last year, which Kone’s Mali side reached the semi-finals before seeing off Argentina in the third-place play-off.
The teenager’s performances in that tournament saw him compared to Yara Toure, with The Athletic previously reporting that Manchester United were able to see a deal worth an initial £1.2million, pipping the likes of Red Bull Salzburg, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanders to his signature.
With Premier League rules now stating that teams can no longer agree transfer deals for players before their 18th birthday, the Red Devils have had to wait until this summer for the move to go through, as Kone only turned 18 in February.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, it makes perfect sense for a club like Manchester United to sign up the game’s most highly-rated youngsters, with the club also moving for ex-Arsenal starlet Chido Obi-Martin earlier in the summer. Should they also get the Ugarte move over the line, Kone will have one of the best players in the world in that position to learn from, as the Red Devils look to move to a model that can combine the nurturing of young talent alongside big-money signings.
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