Man Utd Held Deadline Day Talks Over Deal For £25.4m Chelsea Target

The January transfer window is now closed but we can still look at deals that failed to get across the line and those being lined-up for the summer. Today, Man Utd missed out on Victor Lindelof…..

Manchester United held talks with Benfica over a deadline day swoop for defender Victor Lindelof but couldn’t get an agreement over the line before the window slammed shut last night, according to a report in the Metro.

Lindelof joined Benfica’s youth system from Vasteras SK in the summer of 2012 and has developed in to one of the best young defenders in Europe since breaking in to their first team over the past 18 months.

The 22-year-old has now established himself as a regular for the Swedish national team with 11 caps to his name so far and his potential has caught the attention of some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League.

The Mirror reported earlier this month that Manchester United were considering bringing forward their attempts to sign Lindelof from the summer to January after Chelsea expressed their interest in signing the centre-back.

United have been strongly linked with the Swede in recent months and the newspaper suggested that Jose Mourinho was planning to make his interest official in the summer but was forced to have a rethink after hearing that Chelsea had joined the race for his signature.

It appears United did decide to try and land Lindelof last month as the Metro are citing reports coming from Portugal that claim the Red Devils held talks with Benfica over a possible deadline deal.

The report indicates that Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira was in the UK finalising Helder Costa’s move to Wolves when he met up with United officials to discuss a deal for Lindelof – who has a £25.4m buyout clause in his contract.

However, the Metro say that while an agreement wasn’t reached the two clubs also discussed the possibility of a move happening at the end of the season so United could yet get their hands on the talented defender.

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop but I’m not surprised United didn’t push the boat out to land Lindelof last month as Mourinho already has a number of centre-back options at his disposal.

Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have been excellent in recent months while Eric Bailly is now back from the African Cup of Nations and Chris Smalling is fit again so the Portuguese boss has four top class players to choose from.

READ MORE –> Chelsea transfer news | Man Utd transfer news

Therefore, there was no need to splash out on Lindelof in January and United would be better off taking their time and revisiting it again in the summer – although they may find they’ll face stiff competition from Chelsea, if reports are to be believed.