Man Utd line up €50m Lyon star as doubts emerge over Mourinho favourite

One of Jose Mourinho’s favourite players could be forced to move on if Manchester United follow through with initial interest in a Lyon midfielder.

According to reports in France, United – despite wrapping up a £52.5m deal for Fred on Thursday – have also registered their interest in signing Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.

The France U21 star was linked with a move to Spurs earlier this week, but Le10 Sport claims Mourinho has also added the midfielder to his summer shopping list.

The likely sale of the 21-year-old will represent good business by Lyon, who will make his loan from Amiens a permanent €8m deal this summer.

While their Ligue 1 rivals are entitled to 20% of any fee, Lyon can expect to make an instant profit with a fee of €50m being bandied about in France.

Lyon have indicated they are planning for life after Ndombele by making a move to bring in Strasbourg’s Jean-Eudes Aholou as his replacement.

It’s also suggested that the potential arrival of Ndombele will free up Mourinho favourite Ander Herrera to return to LaLiga, with his former club Athletic Bilbao rumoured to be readying a €30m offer.

Discussing his future at United last month, Herrera told The Guardian: “I want to be here next season and unless the club sack me, I will be here in pre-season and fight to keep adding games to my total.

“In football, what today is black is white tomorrow. So if you think about what can happen in the summer, maybe the club signs four midfielders and they don’t want me any more.

“The only thing I can do is train well today and train well tomorrow. That’s all I can say – and of course if the club wants to talk to me [to extend my contract, which runs out in June 2019] I will listen to them because I am happy here.”

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