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Marseille are pushing to sign unwanted Manchester United defender Eric Bailly according to a report by Sky Sports.
Dharmesh Sheth (Sky Sports) contends the French club are planning to bring the Ivorian defender back to Ligue 1, having brought Bailly to the club on loan last season.
Marseille are pushing to sign Manchester United defender Eric Bailly. No official bid yet. Bailly has 1 year left on his United contract. United have the option to extend for a further year. Bailly not part of Erik ten Hag’s long term plans. #MUFC #Marseille
— Dharmesh Sheth (@skysports_sheth) August 25, 2023
The deal had involved an obligation to buy clause which would be automatically triggered should the defender play at least half of Marseille’s league games. A fee of £6.2 million was reported as the proposed agreement.
Bailly finished on 17 league appearances, however, and subsequently returned to Old Trafford this summer, with reports suggesting he was deliberately omitted from games to ensure the clause was not activated.
Bailly has since been linked with a variety of potential destinations this transfer window, most noticeably in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Al-Nassr, involving a reunion with Cristiano Ronaldo, were an early front runner for Bailly’s services. The Saudi Pro League club switched attention to Aymeric Laporte however.
Besiktas were then reported to have agreed personal terms with the Ivorian, only for the deal to fall through at the last-minute over pay-off issues with United.
Fulham were another club thought to be interested in Bailly’s services. But this latest update of interest from France is the most concrete development yet.
Bailly has one year remaining on his current deal at Old Trafford, although the club reserve the right to extend this by another season.
Sheth asserts the defender is not part of Erik ten Hag’s “long-term plans” with United officials keen for him to depart this summer. Even if this means letting Bailly leave for free.
This willingness may be what has caused Marseille to re-enter the fray for a defender they had appeared to reject only a few months prior.
By allowing Bailly to return to Old Trafford they may end up saving millions on a transfer fee and still end up securing the same outcome.
