Manchester United

Manchester United

Premier League • England

Man Utd transfer news: Ten Hag wants to sign former Man City academy star to replace in-form Diogo Dalot

Chelsea loanee Callum Hudson-Odoi at Bayer Leverkusen with Jeremie Frimpong

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag reportedly wants to bring in a former Manchester City academy star to potentially replace Diogo Dalot at right-back.

United could follow a similar path to the one in which they signed another former City star Jadon Sancho. The Red Devils snapped up the England man after he had left City to join Borussia Dortmund.

Frimpong actually spent longer at the German side than Sancho, having first signed in 2010.

The Holland Under-21 international eventually ended up joining Celtic in 2019. And, having impressed in Glasgow, Bayer Leverkusen splashed out a reported £11.5million to take the full-back to Germany.

Frimpong has since taken his game up another level, attracting major interest as a result.

Sky Sport Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg says the 21-year-old is a player Ten Hag has identified ahead of the January window.

The Dutchman was known to want a new right-back last summer. Indeed, Thomas Meunier and Sergino Dest were both heavily linked, but United focused on other positions instead.

And now Plettenberg has tweeted: “News #Frimpong: Next to other players he is on the list of Manchester United! #MUFC wants to transfer a high quality right-back in winter. At the latest in summer. 21 y/o is a key player for Leverkusen, contract until 2025. Very interesting profile for Ten Hag.”

Frimpong has had an excellent start to the new season, scoring four goals for Leverkusen. However, he has largely been playing as a right wing-back.

Frimpong utilised batter as a wing-back

While that could cause a potential issue tactically for Ten Hag, it’s thought that Frimpong is the perfect blend between Dalot’s attacking threat and Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s defensive attributes.

Wan-Bissaka has played just four minutes so far this season and appears destined to leave, either in January or next summer.

As for Dalot, the Portugal international has started all 14 of United’s matches in all competitions.

However, it appears that Ten Hag is looking to create strong competition across all positions at the club, and Frimpong would definitely provide that for Dalot.

United are back in action on Saturday evening when they face a tough trip to Chelsea.

However, if they can reach anywhere near the level they did in the midweek win over Tottenham, then Graham Potter’s men will face a tough afternoon at Stamford Bridge.

One player who will not be featuring though is Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been dropped.

The Red Devils legend stormed down the tunnel before the final whistle against Spurs after failing to make an appearance from the bench.

Ten Hag, however, claims that Ronaldo still has a role to play at the club.

READ MORE: Stam backs ‘normal’ Man Utd reaction and reveals how Ferguson would have dealt with Ronaldo