According to French outlet Media Foot Marseille, Manchester United are likely to rival Inter Milan for former Borussia Dortmund centre-back Dan-Axel Zagadou. The young Frenchman is a free agent upon the expiration of his Westfalenstadion contract on July 1 and Inter, the Serie A runners-up, have already tabled an offer to secure his services ahead of the other suitors.
The 23-year-old defender progressed through the academy ranks of Créteil and Paris St-Germain. He played a few times for PSG reserves before leaving for Dortmund on a Bosman. In spite of making 91 first-team appearances over the past five years, the former France youth international has been released by the Bundesliga giants.
Zagadou settled for a sporadic role at BVB but Sebastian Kehl, their sporting director and a club legend, revealed the decision after ‘open and frank discussions with the player’ a couple of months ago. His situation has alerted an array of clubs and the Red Devils are now reigniting their interest, having been linked to a move for the youngster earlier this year.
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Inter, meanwhile, were chasing the signing of Torino’s Gleison Bremer. But they lost the race to Juventus, who accepted Bayern Munich’s mega-money offer for Matthijs de Ligt. Bremer has replaced the Dutchman in the heart of the backline and the Nerazzurri, therefore, are exploring other options, including the Les Bleus prospect.
Why Manchester United Should Step Up The Chase
The Red Devils, on the other hand, have tied down Lisandro Martinez from Ajax. The Argentine has reunited with Erik tan Hag and his style of play fits in the manager’s philosophy of aggressive pressing and playing out from the back.
Martinez, along with skipper Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof, Axel Tuanzebe, Phil Jones and Eric Bailly, should offer ample depth in deep defence, but a potential exodus might narrow it down to four with Tuanzebe, Jones and Bailly have little hope left in terms of resurrecting their Man United fortune.
Zagadou, 6 ft 5 in tall, has proved his aerial supremacy time and again. He loves to play passes in order to spread the game from the deep; however, his lack of concentration often led to errors that refrained him from cementing a starting status so far in his career.
Having said that, the French prospect holds all the attributes to shine in the defensive third. He needs to work on a few limitations of his game and the tutelage of Ten Hag might do wonders, given his past reputation in Dutch football.
