Manchester United Pursue Manu Kone Amid PSG Interest
Manchester United face a familiar summer feeling: they want the midfielder, but the midfielder is waiting for Paris.
According to reports in Italy, Manu Kone is holding out for an approach from Paris Saint-Germain, even as Manchester United and their INEOS-led recruitment team circle with intent and a sizeable offer.
Kone waits for Paris, United wait for Kone
United have already moved decisively in this window, bringing in Andrey Santos from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa. Michael Carrick now wants a third addition in the middle of the pitch as he prepares for a season that brings back Champions League nights and a demand to at least trouble the Premier League’s frontrunners.
Kone, currently at Roma and fresh from starring for France at the 2026 World Cup, has been high on that list. TEAMtalk’s Graeme Bailey revealed on July 9 that United were pushing for the 25-year-old, with Roma valuing him at around £50m.
Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport went further, claiming United have already thrashed out an agreement in principle on personal terms and are readying a bid close to €50m (£42.6m, $57m). Their report framed United as “the club with the most potential for the deal”, with talks ongoing and agent Andrea D’Amico waiting for a decisive move from Manchester.
The sting came later. Il Tempo reported in its Friday print edition that Kone is, in fact, waiting for a call from PSG. SportWitness and RomaPress both relayed the story: Kone is open to joining United, but his first hope is a move to last season’s Ligue 1 and Champions League winners.
For now, that hope is just that. Luis Enrique’s side have not made a concrete move, no bid, no formal step. But the player’s stance is clear enough to complicate United’s plans. They can offer the platform, the money, the role. They cannot offer Paris.
Baleba: the other obsession
United, though, are not staking their summer on one midfielder’s phone ringing in the French capital.
Behind the Kone pursuit sits another long-running fascination: Carlos Baleba. The Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder wanted Old Trafford last season, but Brighton’s valuation shut the door before it ever truly opened. Figures of more than £100m were being quoted, a price United simply walked away from.
The interest never fully died.
On July 21, Bailey outlined the club’s thinking. United want a midfielder who can truly anchor them defensively. In their ideal world, that player is Baleba. They “absolutely love his game”, even after what they viewed as an inconsistent season. Internally, United see his value around the £50m mark.
Brighton see it very differently.
Even before Elliot Anderson briefly became the most expensive British player ever, later overtaken by Morgan Rogers, Brighton were talking about numbers “well north of £75m and closer to £100m”. That stance, as Bailey put it, “immediately puts him outside United’s thinking”.
Yet Baleba remains firmly on the shortlist. Sky Sports reported on July 23 that both Kone and Baleba are being “strongly considered” by United as they search for that crucial third midfield signing.
A midfield rebuild with a price
The shape of United’s summer is clear. Santos and Tielemans bring energy, passing and depth. The next signing has to bring control, bite and presence in front of the back four. Kone fits that brief. So does Baleba. The problem is cost on one side and hesitation on the other.
Roma want a serious fee for a World Cup standout. Brighton want a Premier League premium for a 22-year-old Cameroon international they believe is only just starting to grow into his potential. PSG, as ever, sit in the background of the Kone deal, a club whose mere possibility can stall negotiations elsewhere.
For United and INEOS, this is the new reality of the market they are trying to master: rivals who won’t blink on price, and targets who can afford to wait for a different badge.
The question now is simple and brutal: do United push harder, pay more, or pivot again in a window where their midfield rebuild still feels one big signing short?
