Mané now has three years left on his contract at Southampton and is therefore unlikely to come cheap, so it’s highly likely that United’s bid is just a place-saver while they pursue other, more illustrious, possibly Thomas Muller-shaped options.
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Old Trafford chief Ed Woodward has a good relationship with the Saints hierarchy after the smooth transfers of Luke Shaw last summer and Morgan Schneiderlin in July.
Mane, 23, had an impressive debut campaign for Southampton last season after joining from Red Bull Salzburg for £10million, scoring 10 goals.
The word from within United seems to be that it was Louis van Gaal’s decision to ultimately pull the plug on the move, with suggestions that the experienced Dutch tactician wasn’t entirely convinced Pedro would fit into his preferred system.
Nevertheless, he displayed that those goalscoring instincts had not disappeared, bagging ten strikes in the top flight, and breaking the record for the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history during the 6-1 thrashing of Aston Villa.
After pulling the plug on a deal for Barcelona’s Pedro, many Manchester United supporters speculated that a big name alternative was in the offing.
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Pedro now looks set to move to Chelsea instead.
