\t\t\t14<\/i><\/p>\n
Manchester United remain intent on signing a third midfielder this summer, but a move for AS Roma star Manu Kone hinges on one condition, according to a new report.<\/p>\n
\u201cBest midfielder in France\u201d<\/h5>\n
During the World Cup, legendary midfielder Patrick Vieira raised eyebrows with his claim that Kone was the \u201cbest midfielder in France\u201d in the build-up to The Blues’<\/em> clash with Norway.<\/p>\n The 25-year-old dynamo, selected by Didier Deschamps in place of the injured Aurelien Tchouameni, was excellent in the 2-0 win, however, justifying Vieira\u2019s faith in him \u2013 and the growing hype over one of the summer\u2019s most in-demand talents.<\/p>\n When France were losing 1-0 in the semi-final against Spain last week, Deschamps again turned to Kone, summoning him from the bench at half-time to replace Adrien Rabiot. While the Colombes native could do little to stop Luis de la Fuente\u2019s rampant side, it is a testament to his rise in the past 12 months after an excellent season in the Italian capital.<\/p>\n Signed from Bundesliga side Borussia M\u00f6nchengladbach for \u20ac20 million (\u20ac18m upfront + \u20ac2m in add-ons), Kone has established himself as one of the best box-to-box midfielders in Serie A. He was pivotal to Roma\u2019s success last season under new manager Gian Gasperini, with The Giallorossi<\/em> qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in seven years.<\/p>\n A host of clubs, including Manchester United, have taken note of Kone\u2019s rise \u2013 at both club and international level. However, the Red Devils\u2019 interest will depend on the financial package required to prise him away from the Stadio Olimpico.<\/p>\n With two deals already in the bag for Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, but a need for a third following the decision to pull the plug on Ederson\u2019s move to Old Trafford, Kone is rising up the ranks at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n The Athletic<\/em> reveals Kone has \u201cbeen discussed\u201d as a target, while a report from the Daily Mail claims INEOS have held talks with the Frenchman\u2019s representatives.<\/p>\n Crucially, however, The Athletic<\/em> states it is \u201cnot certain United would commit the finance possibly required to sign him from Roma.\u201d There is also understood to be interest from a host of Premier League clubs, including Aston Villa, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, further complicating matters.<\/p>\n Roma are believed to be demanding a fee in the region of \u00a350 million, with the Italian giants requiring \u201cplayer sales to meet UEFA\u2019s financial regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n This outlay would not be beyond United\u2019s reach after two prudent deals for Santos and Tielemans, costing \u00a385 million in total, have left a sizeable chunk of the budget untouched. However, both of those players were Premier League proven; Kone is not, and he has a chequered injury history in recent years.<\/p>\n Unless Roma are willing to negotiate on their asking price, it appears that Manchester United are content to bide their time and wait to see if a better alternative \u2013 or a better deal \u2013 presents itself between now and the start of the new campaign next month.<\/p>\n Featured image Paolo Bruno via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n The Peoples Person has been one of the world\u2019s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 14 Manchester United remain intent on signing a third midfielder this summer, but a move…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Manu Kone Stats: 2025\/26 Season<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n \nCompetition<\/th>\n Appearances<\/th>\n Starts<\/th>\n Goals<\/th>\n Assists<\/th>\n Yellow Cards<\/th>\n Red Cards<\/th>\n Minutes Played<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Serie A<\/td>\n 29<\/td>\n 28<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n 2,459′<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n UEFA Europa League<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n 266′<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n \nItaly Cup<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n –<\/td>\n 33′<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n \n Total<\/th>\n 37<\/th>\n 33<\/th>\n 2<\/th>\n 3<\/th>\n 3<\/th>\n –<\/th>\n 2,758′<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tfoot>\n<\/table>\n
\nSource: Transfermarkt. <\/em><\/p>\nThe Price Is Not Right<\/h5>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h5>\n
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