According to David Ornstein at The Athletic, Manchester United and rivals City are keeping tabs on Jamaican forward Leon Bailey.
The 22-year-old is tied under contract at Bayer Leverkusen until 2023.
This season Bailey has scored five goals while registering three assists for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. He joined the Bundesliga club from Genk back in 2018 and plays in the same side as fellow United transfer target Kai Havertz, as per Manchester Evening News.
Ornstein states that Bailey “would favour a move to England this summer” but it seems as though United have other preferable options.
The report outlines the following: “Manchester City and Manchester United thought to be among those to have expressed interest (in signing Bailey), although he is not a first-choice target for either team.”
Bailey often plays in a forward-left position at Bayer Leverkusen which may explain why he isn’t one of United’s preferred options this summer. A move would make more sense for Pep Guardiola since City lost Leroy Sane to Bayern Munich last week, whereas at Old Trafford we already have Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial who can both play on the left or centrally.
City already have Raheem Sterling, Bernando Silva and Riyad Mahrez who can all play on the left.
We already know that transfer fees are likely to nosedive this summer. Meanwhile, The Athletic add that Bailey’s asking price has halved in recent months:
“Before the coronavirus pandemic and football’s shutdown, Leverkusen were expected to seek a fee of around €50 million for Bailey.
“But that figure is likely to be reduced to €20-30 million, even though the Kingston-born attacker has three years left on his contract.”
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