The Athletic have confirmed that Manchester United are closing in on the signing a Liverpool winger
There are fixtures in football, and then there is Liverpool versus Manchester United. No other rivalry in the English game carries the same weight of history, identity, and mutual contempt.
For over a century, the two clubs have competed for trophies, for titles, and for the right to call themselves England’s greatest. What they have almost never done is willingly do business with each other.
Direct transfers between the two clubs are exceptionally rare, and for good reason. Each represents something the other fundamentally opposes, not just on the pitch, but in culture, geography, and tradition.
The idea of a player crossing that particular divide has always carried a social cost that extends well beyond any transfer fee. Supporters on both sides treat such moves as something close to betrayal.
That unspoken rule has held firm across generations. Managers come and go, ownership structures change, and football’s financial landscape shifts beyond recognition, yet the wall between Merseyside and Manchester on matters of transfer business has largely stayed intact.
When it has been breached, the stories tend to linger long in the memory.
Which makes what is unfolding in Manchester’s academy corridors right now all the more striking for Liverpool fans.
According to The Athletic, Manchester United are closing in on announcing the signing of 16-year-old winger Isaac Konde from Liverpool.
The report emerged alongside confirmation that 17-year-old midfielder Karim Cassim has now completed his move to United from Manchester City, following Premier League ratification.
United are also closing in on the signing of 16-year-old defensive midfielder David Eze, also from City.
Konde turns 17 on October 22. He joined Liverpool’s academy as an Under-9 player in May 2018 and has spent the best part of eight years in the club’s system at Kirkby.
He made six appearances for Liverpool’s Under-18 side, registering one assist, and featured as recently as May in an Under-18 Premier League game against Middlesbrough.
He primarily operates from the left wing but is capable of playing on the right flank or through the middle as a centre-forward. Pace and versatility are among his strongest attributes.
The move, when confirmed, will see Konde join Darren Fletcher’s Under-18 side at United.
The Athletic reports that people inside United believe Cassim, described as an energetic box-to-box midfielder and England youth international, has the potential to become a future first-team player, and that his signing reflects focused work being done on recruiting at youth level.
That same intent is evident in the pursuit of Konde. Cassim was part of the Manchester City side that won the FA Youth Cup last season and has represented England at Under-17 level.
It is part of a deliberate wider pattern at United. The club previously signed Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi from Arsenal’s academy.
Heaven has since established himself in senior football, making 17 appearances for the club during the 2025-26 campaign.
United have also signed 18-year-old winger Tynan Thompson in a deal worth an initial £4 million, rising to £8 million in add-ons.
For Liverpool, losing a promising academy talent to Manchester United will land differently than a routine departure.
Young striker Vincent Joseph recently completed a move to Arsenal, with the 16-year-old having scored three goals in two Under-18 Premier League appearances last season before declining to sign a scholarship at Anfield.
The Isaac Konde development means Liverpool now face losing two teenage prospects to top-flight rivals within weeks of each other.
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