Manchester United hopeful of signing Villarreal defender Eric Bailly

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic having agreed personal terms for a one-year contract at Old Trafford, José Mourinho’s attention has now turned to strengthening his central defence and Bailly is his primary target. United have offered around £15m up front for the Ivory Coast international but a number of performance-related clauses could see the eventual fee reach £30m.

That has not been accepted by Villarreal, although they have indicated they would be happy to sell the 22-year-old to United and are negotiating over the structure of the deal.

Leicester and Arsenal have also registered an interest in signing Bailly but Manchester City are understood to no longer be in the race due to their continuing negotiations with Athletic Bilbao over the French defender Aymeric Laporte.

Source: The Guardian