Manchester United are being linked with a January transfer bid for a proven Premier League star - but they aren’t alone.
While the January transfer window isn’t generally quite as busy as the summer edition, one team who could make quite a few moves is Manchester United – a reflection both of their poor start to the Premier League season and of the fact that they failed to address all of their needs before the transfer deadline earlier in September.
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Left-back, in particular, remains a problem. Luke Shaw is a steady starter but his injury record continues to provoke concern and the only obvious alternative in his position, Patrick Dorgu, is a player that Michael Carrick would prefer to play as a winger. United looked into deals for a number of players over the course of the summer, but none of them came to fruition.
Now a new report suggests that another player has made his way onto the Red Devils’ radar – Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell. So could United get a deal done this January? Or will somebody else get there first?
Manchester United keen to sign Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell – reports
Tyrick Mitchell made his debut for England against Switzerland in 2022 - when he replaced Luke Shawplaceholder image
Tyrick Mitchell made his debut for England against Switzerland in 2022 - when he replaced Luke Shaw | Getty Images
A new story from TEAMtalk suggests that Manchester United have been “keeping a particularly close eye” on the 27-year-old Mitchell ahead of the January transfer window, seeing him as a proven and potentially budget-friendly signing who could compete with Shaw for starting minutes.
The twice-capped England international offers a lot of the qualities that United are looking for – he’s a defensive player first and foremost who doesn’t let much past him, but also a full-back who offers some support for the attack. Although not a natural wing-back by most standards, Mitchell still provided 10 assists over the last two seasons when played in a more aggressive role under Oliver Glasner.
Just as appealing, however, is the fact that Mitchell could be relatively cheap. He’s out of contract next summer and that could force Crystal Palace to accept a reduced offer in order to avoid the risk of losing him on a free transfer. Their position in the league could dictate whether they’re willing to take the money in January, but if a deal is doable then it’s unlikely that it would break the bank.
One of the primary reasons that Manchester United didn’t sign a left-back over the summer was that they were unable to agree what they viewed as reasonable fees for any of their primary targets – for instance, they weren’t willing to meet Barcelona’s asking price for Alejandro Balde and wanted to sign him on an initial loan deal, terms that the Catalan giants wouldn’t agree to.
United’s current transfer team, led by director of football Jason Wilcox, believe that the club consistently overpaid for players in recent seasons and want to avoid being drawn into spending excessively on high-risk signings. That ruled out a deal for Balde, who like Shaw has a chequered injury history, but also means that a cut-price deal for a player like Mitchell would have plenty of appeal.
Crystal Palace’s stance on a sale or the likely asking price are not mentioned in TEAMtalk’s report, which doesn’t suggest that any kind of discussions have yet taken place – but it is suggested that Manchester United could face some competition.
Will Manchester United sign Mitchell this January?
Mitchell has spent the last 10 years with Crystal Palace and has made all of his senior career appearances for The Eaglesplaceholder image
Mitchell has spent the last 10 years with Crystal Palace and has made all of his senior career appearances for The Eagles | Getty Images
While United’s interest in striking a January deal is discussed at greater length, the article also suggests that both Liverpool and Chelsea are also interested in Mitchell – and could provide competition for his signature, either in January or at the end of the season.
Chelsea seem, at first blush, like an unlikely suitor. They have a bloated squad and between summer signing Pep Chavarría and Jorrel Hato, they already have options at left-back, with Levi Colwill able to fill in in an emergency. Unless Chavarría and Hato struggle, it’s hard to imagine that Mitchell would be a priority signing for them.
Liverpool also have two left-backs on the books but one, Miloš Kerkez, has yet to convince following his £50m move from Bournemouth and the other, Kostas Tsimikas, is a player that’s never been much more than a back-up at Anfield – and his contract is coming to an end in 2027, just as Mitchell’s is.
Mitchell, then, could offer Liverpool a budget-conscious way to replace Tsimikas in the long-term while providing them with a player of sufficient quality to push Kerkez for starting minutes. Perhaps the bigger obstacle facing Manchester United, however, isn’t necessarily Liverpool but Mitchell’s current employers. The report states that Palace are hoping to tie their first-choice down to a new contract in the coming months, a move which would kill any hopes of a transfer stone dead.
The question now is whether Mitchell would prefer to be the undisputed first choice at Selhurst Park or to scrap for starts at Old Trafford or Anfield – and, of course, whether he ends up being a genuine transfer target for either United or Liverpool. Both teams are looking at other options, and the speculation that Mitchell of interest may not amount to much come January. There’s a lot that could happen between now and the start of the coming transfer window.