Old Trafford night
Manchester United have been in dire form this campaign and most of their stars have been below par. However, among them, Lisandro Martínez was their best player, scoring a goal away against Liverpool and also netting the winner vs Fulham in the Premier League recently.
Unfortunately, he has now sustained an ACL injury and his season is over. Moreover, the South American would also be expected to be unavailable for the first few months of next term.
News –£50.1million player expected to sign for Manchester United
The Red Devils have hired Ayden Heaven in the winter window and he is a left-footed center-back. He doesn’t have experience in top-level football. Therefore, he can’t be trusted to fill Martínez’s current void.
Now, German outlet, Sport Bild, report that Man Utd are exploring the possibility of signing a new left-sided defender and have expressed their interest in RB Leipzig star, Castello Lukeba.
The player’s agent has been looking at options for his client to help him take the next step in his career and Man Utd have made contact over this deal.
The 22-year-old recently extended his contract with the German club and has included a huge £75m release clause.
Moreover, the defender isn’t short of potential suitors as Liverpool and Chelsea are also interested in him, while Real Madrid were looking at him to bolster the defense last summer.
Lukeba has struggled with injury problems thus far this campaign so he has made only 10 league starts, keeping seven clean sheets.
Despite Martínez’s recent injury, United have depth in the center-back department having purchased Matthijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro last summer.
If they eventually part ways with Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans next summer as their existing deals will expire at the end of this season, adding a new center-back could become a necessity.
Nevertheless, Ruben Amorim’s side are said to be in financial difficulty and have been sacking employees behind the scenes. So, this raises the question of whether it would be the right decision to spend £75m to sign Lukeba.