Manchester United are heavily keen to sign Bayer Leverkusen defender Jeremie Frimpong and his situation is “getting hotter and hotter”, according to transfer expert Christian Falk.
Writing for Caught Offside, the Bild journalist claims that the Red Devils have held talks to sign the Dutch international – who shares a close relationship with Erik ten Hag.
Falk says that the Bundesliga giants know that they probably will lose the right-back, and as a result, they have given Arthur, 20, a new long-term deal that will keep him at the club until 2028.
There have been rumours that Bayern Munich could rival Man Utd for Frimpong but Falk says that the German giants will not “disturb the transfer poker”.
Falk wrote in his Caught Offside column:
“In the meantime, it is getting hotter and hotter with Manchester United and Jeremie Frimpong. There are talks. Leverkusen know that they probably will lose their right-back, which is why they gave Arthur (20) a new contract til 2028. The Brazil right-back is coming from America Mineiro.
“There are rumors that Bayern are intereted in United target Frimpong too. That’s not the case – Bayern will not disturb the transfer poker.”
Fantastic addition
Frimpong is a fantastic young player and has been one of the stand-out performers for Leverkusen. The 22-year-old has managed eight goals and six assists in 26 games in the Bundesliga this season, and he is enjoying the best spell in his short career so far.
It seems Man Utd are heavily keen to land him, but he won’t come cheap. As per Football Insider, the German giants value Frimpong at £40m-£50m but they might accept a fee of around £35m for his signature.
Man Utd have Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka as their main options in the right-back roles, and Ten Hag will have to offload one of them to bring in Frimpong.
It seemed at one point that Wan-Bassaka’s days are numbered after Ten Hag informed him he could leave at the end of last season. However, he has proved his quality after the World Cup and has earned the faith of his manager.
Having said that, the club should offload Wan-Bassaka to fund the move for Frimpong this summer. Wan-Bissaka is more of an orthodox defensive-minded right-back, but in modern football, clubs like Man Utd want a more attacking full-back.
Despite huge potential, that’s why the former Crystal Palace defender has regressed. Make no mistake, Wan-Bissaka is a very good defender, but managers these days rely more on attacking full-backs who can score goals and deliver assists, and probably that’s why they are so keen to take a punt on Frimpong.
