{"id":205728,"date":"2025-06-22T18:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T18:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/205728\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T18:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T18:22:12","slug":"excellent-defender-reportedly-fancies-joining-manchester-united-but-real-madrid-could-now-test-that-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/205728\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Excellent\u2019 defender reportedly fancies joining Manchester United, but Real Madrid could now test that stance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manchester United signed two centre-backs in last summer\u2019s transfer window but may still move for another this summer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manchester United<\/a> backed Erik ten Hag with not one but two major defensive additions last summer.<\/p>\n

United landed Matthijs de Ligt<\/a> from Bayern Munich, allowing him to reunite with Ten Hag, having previously worked together at Ajax.<\/p>\n

Leny Yoro also joined United<\/a> as the French wonderkid arrived in a big-money move from Lille.<\/p>\n

United\u2019s outlay on De Ligt and Yoro<\/a> could exceed \u00a3100million if all add-ons are paid, but United are still looking for defensive additions.<\/p>\n

\"FBL-EUR-C1-SPORTING-BOLOGNA\"Photo by FILIPE AMORIM\/AFP via Getty ImagesReal Madrid could test Ousmane Diomande\u2019s Manchester United stance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Victor Lindelof has said goodbye to United<\/a>, while Jonny Evans has announced his retirement<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

That could tempt United into signing a right-footed defender to compete with De Ligt, Yoro and Harry Maguire.<\/p>\n

Reports in Portugal suggest that United are interested in Sporting\u2019s Ousmane Diomande<\/a>, who played under Ruben Amorim in Lisbon.<\/p>\n

Diomande \u2013 hailed as \u2018excellent by teammate Jeremiah St Juste whilst speaking to\u00a0Record<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 has emerged as a star in Portugal after joining Sporting from Midtjylland.<\/p>\n

Crystal Palace want Diomande, but the Ivorian centre-back is allegedly more interested in joining United if he is heading to England.<\/p>\n

That sounds exciting, but Diomande\u2019s stance may be challenged amid recent reports from TEAMtalk<\/a> that Real Madrid are keen on signing him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s suggested that new Real boss Xabi Alonso is a big fan of Diomande, meaning a move to Madrid could materialise this summer.<\/p>\n

Alonso wants to add another central defender, and Diomande is now emerging as a prime target for the Spanish giants.<\/p>\n

United may be Diomande\u2019s priority if he makes a Premier League switch, but turning down a powerhouse like Real would be a different matter.<\/p>\n

Manchester United will hope to avoid Franco Mastantuono repeat<\/strong><\/p>\n

United beat Real to Yoro last summer, but have already seen one target secure a move to the Spanish capital.<\/p>\n

River Plate wonderkid Franco Mastantuono was a key target for United<\/a>, having shown enormous potential in Argentina.<\/p>\n

Real have won the race for Mastantuono<\/a>, handing him a \u2018dream\u2019 move to the Santiago Bernabeu this summer.<\/p>\n

United will be disappointed to have missed out on such a big talent, and would hate to see Diomande make the same move.<\/p>\n

A centre-back may only be targeted once United have bolstered Amorim\u2019s attacking options, and that window may just allow Real to swoop in for Diomande.<\/p>\n

The Amorim connection could be crucial, but United will seemingly face a stern battle for Diomande\u2019s signature regardless.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United signed two centre-backs in last summer\u2019s transfer window but may still move for another this summer.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,61921,99,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-205728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-ousmane-diomande","13":"tag-ruben-amorim","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}