Manchester United have been linked with a number of centre-backs over the past several months as they are expected to sign a defensive partner for Harry Maguire in the summer transfer window.
One of the players on top of their wishlist appears to be Jules Kounde. The French defender has quickly established himself as one of the most highly-rated youngsters in all of Europe ever since moving to Sevilla from Bordeaux in 2019 for a transfer fee reported to be around €25 million.
Since then, Kounde has made 77 appearance for them and has been one of the standout players in Spain over the past couple of seasons. As a result, he has managed to catch the eye of some of the biggest clubs in Europe. His current contract expires in the summer of 2024 though, meaning Sevilla are not under any pressure to let him leave anytime soon.
The La Liga side though had appeared to be looking for a transfer fee of £70 million to let Kounde leave in the summer. But as reported by The Sun, they have reduced their asking price to around £50 million.
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Manchester United might need to shell out around £50 million to sign Kounde
This news will come as a timely boost to the Red Devils who have been heavily linked with the player over the past couple of months but the £70 million transfer fee might have been steep even for them, especially in the current financial climate.
Kounde is not the only centre-back that Manchester United have been linked with though as they appear to be monitoring the likes of Nikola Milenkovic, Raphael Varane, Ibrahima Konate and Ben White, just to name a few.
Thus, it will be interesting to see who they end up making a move for when the transfer window reopens. It is likely though that Kounde will be near the top of their wishlist after this latest development.