Manchester United are reportedly showing “serious interest” in a former Chelsea star they hope to bring to Old Trafford in January.
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Big things were expected from United following the appointment of Ruben Amorim as Erik ten Hag’s replacement in November. Since, however, things seem only to have gotten worse, with Amorim losing five of his first 10 games in charge, which is the worst record of any new United manager since Walter Crickmer in the 1930s.
During United’s 2-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Boxing Day, fans could be seen leaving Molineux early, while those that stayed booed their team at the final whistle.
Speaking to the press after that game, Amorim said that he knows that his job will be on the line if results do not improve in the near future.
“I know that if we don’t win, regardless if they pay the buyout or not, every manager is in danger. I like that because that is the job,” he said.
“It’s part of football to have these difficult moments. I already knew it was going to be tough. You expect to win more games, to have players with more confidence to sell the idea and to work and improve things. At this moment it’s really hard. We have to survive to have time and then to improve the team.”
INEOS line up move for Barcelona outcast
To try and solve his side’s woes in the second half of the season, Amorim will no doubt be looking to use the January transfer window to bring in some fresh legs. According to a Monday report from Spain, United have shown a “serious interest” in Barcelona’s Andreas Christensen “in the last few hours”.
The Danish defender joined Barca on a free transfer from Chelsea in 2022, and United are now keen to bring him back to the Premier League in January specifically. The Red Devils, however, will face serious competition from Juventus for the 28-year-old. The report states that the Old Lady are leading the race for the Barca star, with manager Thiago Motta in desperate need of fresh legs in defence.
How fresh Christensen’s legs are, however, is up for debate. The Denmark international has suffered a number of injury setbacks during his career, missing well over a year of action. This season, he’s played just 26 minutes of football for Barca due to an achilles tendon injury, for which he underwent surgery in Sweden. He is expected to return at the end of January.
Given United’s recent record of signing injury-prone defenders, like Leny Yoro, Raphael Varane and Luke Shaw, signing someone who not only has a poor injury record themselves, but has spent most of the last four months injured, makes little to no sense. Christensen himself has also rebuked speculation that he could be set to leave the Camp Nou.
“I can only speak about the conversations I’ve had with the club and so far they’ve only told me that I’ll recover well and that they’re looking forward to my return,” he recently told TV 2 Sport.
