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Manchester United could lose defender transfer race to Chelsea

By Sourav Mahanty

Chelsea's German head coach Thomas Tuchel gestures during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on February 4, 2021. (Photo by NEIL HALL / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by NEIL HALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Chelsea's German head coach Thomas Tuchel gestures during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on February 4, 2021. (Photo by NEIL HALL / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by NEIL HALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Defence has been viewed as a key area of weakness for Manchester United this season, although interestingly, they have managed to keep clean sheets against all of the top sides.

That might be more down to how they are set up in these games though and the club are expected to make a move for another defender in the summer. The club was linked with Dayot Upamecano in the past but now that he is set to move to Bayern Munich, they have been rumoured to be interesting in his RB Leipzig defensive partner Ibrahima Konate.

The French defender is another top talent at the Bundesliga side. Unfortunately, the 21-year-old has had his injury issues, which has seen him miss a lot of football over the last couple of seasons.

Despite that, a number of top clubs are interested in Konate including Manchester United. But according to the Mirror, they might end up losing out in the transfer race to Chelsea because of the presence of Zsolt Low, who is Thomas Tuchel’s assistant coach.

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Low served as an assistant coach at RB Leipzig during Konate’s debut season at the club. And although he left to join Tuchel in Paris Saint-Germain later, he reportedly remained in contact with the defender.

And it is this relationship with the coach which could end up being the deciding factor in a future move. Thus, Chelsea are believed to be leading the race for Konate’s signature.

This will be a massive blow to United though. After losing out on Upamecano, this could be the second RB Leipzig defender that they fail to sign in the same summer transfer window. But they have been linked with a number of other high-profile names as well, and will be expected to sign at least one of them ahead of next season.

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