Man Utd battle Chelsea, Man City for standout Ligue 1 captain after January transfer permission
Mauricio Pochettino, Erik ten Hag and Pep Guardiola
Manchester United have taken an interest in Le Havre defender Arouna Sangante, who is the youngest captain in Ligue 1 and also on the radars of Chelsea and Manchester City, according to a report.
Sangante was named in the Ligue 2 team of the year for last season after helping Le Havre win promotion. At the age of 21, he already captains his current club and has earned 10 top-flight appearances this season.
However, Le Havre could cash in on the centre-back as soon as January, according to Football Insider, after he caught the attention of the Premier League trio.
AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund are also said to be in the race for Sangante, so his representatives could have a busy couple of months ahead narrowing down his next step.
Although Le Havre have Sangante under contract until 2026, he has their permission to find a new club in the next transfer window.
Man Utd are on the lookout for long-term options at centre-back now that Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire have reached the age of 30.
TEAMtalk has just revealed that Varane is starting to map out a future away from Man Utd amid links with clubs like Bayern Munich.
But rather than sign a replacement of similar quality immediately, Man Utd are being tipped by Football Insider to target more of a budget option.
The problem if they want Sangante is the amount of competition for his signature from direct rivals, with neither Man City nor Chelsea willing to miss out on the next wave of top talent.
The report does not mention at this stage what kind of transfer fee it might take to prise Sangante away from Le Havre.
Sangante rising to prominence with Le Havre
Born in Senegal, he has spent his entire career with Le Havre so far, making 28 appearances for their B team and 81 for their first team.
Le Havre are a respectable seventh in Ligue 1 at the time of the November international break after drawing half of their 12 matches back in the top flight so far.
They have kept clean sheets in each of Sangante’s last three appearances, goalless draws against Lens, Metz and Monaco (in between was a 2-1 win at Toulouse that the skipper missed).
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