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A dark horse could be emerging as the next midfielder to pull on the coveted Manchester United shirt.
Throughout the summer, all eyes have been on Fiorentina star Sofyan Amrabat, whose enthusiasm for joining the Old Trafford outfit appeared to be matched in equal measure by that of United manager, Erik ten Hag, in his bid to add him to his ranks.
The delay in signing the Moroccan has been put down to United’s need to sell before they can buy, something they have now done in offloading Fred to Fenerbahçe for around £15 million.
Yet United are still not pulling the trigger in Florence.
Meanwhile an innocuous report on Friday noted that a United scout was in attendance at a Ligue 1 match involving OGC Nice, who most people assumed to be there to watch defender Jean-Clair Todibo.
The report mentioned that the scout was also there to view midfielder, Khephren Thuram.
This is not unusual; scouts watch a lot of players and it does not mean that the club is about to make a move for that particular man.
And in the case of Thuram, an impending transfer approach seemed an even unlikelier scenario, as the player was widely expected to join Bayern Munich this summer.
That is, until today. According to a new report from footmercato.net, Bayern have gone cold over the deal and have turned their attentions to PSV Eindhoven’s Ibrahim Sangaré.
The outlet reports that “[Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel] has long made OGC Nice midfielder K[h]ephren Thuram his priority. But the presence of many intermediaries in the operation has complicated the operation very seriously.
“Well aware of the complexity of the case, the Munich club will look to another target particularly appreciated by the 49-year-old German coach.
“According to our information, it is Ibrahim Sangaré.”
The timing of Bayern’s withdrawal alongside United’ scouting may be nothing more than a coincidence.
But there is a growing amount of circumstantial evidence to suggest that as Bayern shift their attentions from Thuram to Sangaré, United might also be shifting their’s to Thuram from Amrabat.