Manchester United have had a €85 million bid for Kylian Mbappé turned down with Monaco wanting at least €118m (£100m) for the 18-year-old forward.
José Mourinho has made Mbappé one of his main targets for the summer but the Ligue 1 club wants to keep the player for at least another season before selling him.
United, who are also interested in Atlético Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, has struggled in front of goal this season with Zlatan Ibrahimovic their top scorer with 28 goals this season in all competitions. The Swede, who suffered a long-term knee injury in the Europa League quarter-final against Anderlecht has struck 17 times in the league this season with Anthony Martial the second highest scorer on 11.
Monaco have told United that they will not sell Mbappé for less than €118m and that it is highly unlikely that he will leave the club this summer. Monaco hope that his value will soar even further and that they will be able to sell him for a world record fee of €147m in 2018.
The player’s preferred destination would be Real Madrid but the Spanish club have yet to make an inquiry for a player who has taken France and Europe by storm this season.
United and Mourinho are also working on other possible deals and have made an inquiry to Roma about the availability of Radja Nainggolan, but the player, who turned down the chance to join Chelsea last summer, is keen to stay at the Italian club.
Mourinho’s shortlist with possible summer signings also include, for the midfield positions, Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos and Mbappé’s Monaco team-mates Fabinho and Tiemoué Bakayoko, although Chelsea are in pole position to sign the latter.
Top-four place
United, after the 1-1 draw against Swansea at the weekend, are in danger of missing out on a top-four place in the league but are in the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they face Celta Vigo in the first leg.
The winner of that competition qualifies for next season’s Champions League with United well aware that they may struggle to attract some of the names on their wishlist should they not be in Europe’s premier club competition next season.
Arsenal and Tottenham have both expressed an interest in signing the Ivory Coast international Jean Michaël Seri this summer, although the Premier League clubs will face competition from Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona for the highly-rated midfielder.
Seri has been outstanding this season in Nice’s surprise challenge for the Ligue 1 title and impressed again during the 3-1 victory over PSG on Sunday that left Unai Emery’s side third in the table.
That has led to reports in France that Emery will make the 25-year-old one of his transfer priorities for PSG this summer amid rumours Marco Verratti could leave Parc des Princes for Juventus, although PSG are likely to face competition from both north London rivals for Seri who has two years remaining on his contract.
Scouts from Arsenal and Tottenham have watched the player signed from Portuguese side Paços Ferreira in 2015 several times this season, with his representative understood to have been in London last week to informally meet officials of the two Premier League clubs. Southampton and Leicester have also been linked with an approach for Seri, who has won 12 caps for Ivory Coast.
Nice are believed to want around €24m for a player who has a release clause of €40m with Barcelona also interested in the box-to-box midfielder who has scored six goals and laid on nine assists in 31 league appearances this season.
Guardian Service
