Zidane leaves door open for Man Utd to secure Real Madrid attacker

Zinedine Zidane appears to have left the door open for Manchester United to sign Luka Jovic after the Real Madrid striker was linked with a move.

A home defeat by Crystal Palace and a fortunate win over Brighton have apparently left Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looking for answers in the transfer window.

That window, for international business closes on October 5, and transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio says Solskjaer has two names on his radar.

The first is free agent Edinson Cavani, who left PSG at the end of the season when his contract expired.

Wednesday’s Paper Talk claimed talks over a free-transfer move were close to reaching a positive conclusion.

Di Marzio, however, states that United have asked about Jovic at Real Madrid and claims “the ballot is open”.

Spanish outlet AS report that Zidane has approved the loan of Jovic before Monday.

The frozen out Serbia forward has three firm proposals on the table from Roma, Inter and Milan.

However, with United now sniffing around, it seems Zidane has left the door open for Jovic to move on.

“You have to take everything into account,” Zidane said.

“Until the fifth [of October], the market is open. We will see. The players are fine and that’s what interests me.”

Zidane left Jovic on Real’s bench for their LaLiga opener against Real Sociedad.

Explaining his thinking, Zidane added: “I didn’t want to change the formation. So, I could have put on another centre-forward by taking one off, but I didn’t want to change the formation.

“I’d have had to take [Karim] Benzema off, but he was playing well. By playing two centre-forwards, I would have needed to change the formation yet I wanted to keep two wingers on the wings.”

Sancho promise to United

As per the Manchester Evening News, Jovic is not a top target for United, despite reports of their interest.

They claim the club remain on the trail of Jadon Sancho, despite seeing a £91m offer rejected.

According to The Times, Sancho is disappointed by the failure of the two clubs to come to a transfer agreement.

However, the 20-year-old won’t let it get him down. As such, the paper claims he has informed United chiefs he will still look to make the move in summer 2021 and is willing to wait another year.

Read more on this, and the rest of the day’s transfer gossip, in Wednesday’s Paper Talk.