They will firm up their interest in the winger, rated around £12m, if United are successful in their bid to prise Mane away from St Mary’s.
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Van Gaal has been tracking the Senegal worldwide, who only moved to England last summer from Austrian side, Red Bull Salzburg and is a big fan of his pace and goal-scoring ability.
It is claimed that Van Gaal was not willing to meet Pedro’s £21.5million clause which is why they shifted their focus to Mane even though executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had given the 64-year-old the go-ahead to sign the Spaniard.
Louis van Gaal was unwilling to discuss reports that Manchester United have now switched their sights to Southampton’s Senegalese winger Sadio Mane.
Koeman admitted he can not ban his players from speaking to their agents or reading newspapers, but the Saints boss attacked the deadline for remaining open until September 1 – more than three weeks after the Barclays Premier League season started. Maybe it’s good to play so many games because we need to develop and improve and cut out mistakes.
The tabloid quotes a United source as saying: “He is the one the club wants more than anyone else”.
Ronald Koeman has slammed the transfer window deadline as insane – and admits he is powerless to stop Sadio Mane being unsettled by ¬speculation.
United, meanwhile, have turned their attention to Mane.
In the Mirror, there’s a story that United will offer Thomas Muller a million quid a month to join them.
The champions’ pursuit of Pedro was also helped by Cesc Fabregas, who, along with his girlfriend Daniella Semaan, persuaded his former Barcelona team-mate and his wife that he should move to London rather than Manchester.
“We have a lot of players – we are training with 30 players and that is not easy every single week”, Flores explained.
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As such, doubts persist over United’s ability to play the market despite having made several new signings since last season.
