Manchester United are ‘seriously jeopardising’ Borussia Dortmund’s plans for their Manchester City academy graduate in a ‘sudden’ €48m move.
Ruben Amorim wants to make sweeping changes to his United squad in the summer having struggled to get the current crop to adapt effectively to his philosophy and 3-4-3 system.
Christian Eriksen revealed this week that he expects to leave Old Trafford at the end of his contract, while the Red Devils also hope to see the back of Casemiro, though finding a buyer may prove difficult given his £350,000 per week contract.
There is also doubt over the future of Kobbie Mainoo, who wants a significant increase on his £20,000 per week deal but may look to leave the club as Sir Jim Ratcliffe brings in a new policy of offering heavily incentivised contracts with low base pay in a ‘declaration of war’.
The departure of all three would leave Amorim with summer signing Manuel Ugarte and academy graduate Toby Collier as his only two central midfielders, meaning they will need reinforcements at the end of the season.
And German outlet Bild claim they are ‘suddenly’ chasing Borussia Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha, who graduated from the Manchester City academy.
The now 24-year-old first moved to Wolfsburg on a free transfer from City in 2021 before a €30m move to Dortmund in 2023.
He’s managed five goals and four assists in 56 appearances for BVB, but has missed 34 games through injury since arriving at Westfalenstadion.
That doesn’t appear to be a sticking point for United though as the report claims they ‘want to shell out’ €48m in the summer to land the midfielder, who’s currently valued by Transfermarkt at €28m.
His exit is said to be ‘looming’ as Dortmund prepare for an exodus if they fail to qualify for the Champions League next season.
They face Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the competition next month but are currently 11th in the Bundesliga, ten points behind fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
Bild claim Nmecha could ‘push’ for the transfer despite not being among the candidates the German side are prepared to sell, with Gregor Kobel, Jamie Gittens and Karim Adeyemi also being targeted by European suitors.
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Asked about why he left City having completed his move to Dortmund in 2023, Nmecha said he and his brother Lukas – who also moved to Wolfsburg, where he remains – couldn’t see a path to Guardiola’s first team.
He said: “If you are there early at Manchester City, you already have this competitive mentality. Of course, you want to stick with it. So you just work hard and try to be the best.
“I think my brother and I didn’t think much about whether it would continue for us. We just wanted to be the best in our team and play with the older years, that was always a great motivation. When you play with the older group, you feel good and you feel like you’re improving even more.
“For me, it was a time when I wanted to start playing in the first team and at Manchester City I didn’t really have a chance, they are, of course, a great team. That’s why I didn’t want to extend the contract with City and I was looking for other options.
“Then Wolfsburg came at some point. It was not planned for both of us to go there. It’s something special that it happened that way.”