Manchester United have improved their bid to sign Lecce left-back Patrick Dorgu to €30m (£25.3m), reports have revealed.
United want a new attack-minded left-back for Ruben Amorim’s system and, after missing out on Paris Saint-Germain’s Nuno Mendes, have turned their attention to Dorgu, for whom they have already seen a bid worth €27m (£22.8m) rejected.
The Red Devils did not lose hope and planned to return with a superior offer which The Athletic state has now arrived.
The bid has now been raised to €30m, which is said to be the most United have indicated a willingness to pay for the versatile 20-year-old. Fabrizio Romano, however, claims United’s latest offer is worth “in excess of €30m”.
Lecce have been seeking €40m (£33.7m) to authorise a mid-season sale, with club president Saverio Sticchi Damiani recently admitting his priority was to keep his best players while Lecce try to fight their way out of a relegation battle.
The increased bid for Dorgu comes shortly after United gave permission to Antony to travel to Real Betis to complete his loan move to the Spanish side.
Betis will not pay a loan fee for Antony but have agreed to cover the vast majority of his salary, saving United as much as £1.5m over the next six months.
It’s unclear whether Marcus Rashford will end up leaving the club, despite being frozen out of the first-team picture by Amorim. The 27-year-old was a target for both AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund, but his rumoured £300,000-per-week wages have probed problematic in negotiations, leading to talks with the latter breaking down.
Milan, meanwhile, opted to use their final foreign loan spot on Manchester City’s Kyle Walker rather than on Rashford, who remains in the crosshairs of struggling West Ham.
