Eduardo Camavinga has reportedly informed Rennes supporters of his desire to leave the club amid interest from Manchester United.
The Red Devils have already brought in Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund and Raphael Varane from Real Madrid in the summer transfer window so far.
But while many have tipped United to challenge for the Premier League title this season as a result of that business, their squad is still missing one vital ingredient.
That ingredient is a defensive midfielder, with boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer currently forced to use Fred, Scott McTominay or Nemanja Matic in the holding roles in his formation.
That is currently hampering Solskjaer’s attempts to guide United to a title challenge, with the position a clear weakness in the squad.
Fred and Matic were poor against Southampton on Sunday, with the former conceding an own-goal after deflecting Che Adams’ shot past David De Gea.
The duo failed to provide the creativity needed to drive United to a win, though Mason Greenwood was able to draw the visitors level.
It is an early blow to United’s title hopes, with Chelsea and Liverpool having won both of their games to start the season.
Solskjaer had wanted to deploy a more attacking system this season, but does not trust any of his current options to play as the sole holding midfielder in a 4-3-3 formation.
The signing of Sancho has solved their problems on the right wing, while Varane will finally give Harry Maguire a quality partner in defence.
The final issue to solve in the final week of the summer window is a new holding player to allow Solskjaer to bring United towards a more attacking style.
One man who has emerged as a potential target is Rennes star Camavinga, who has entered the final year of his contract with the Ligue 1 side.
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While Rennes have been attempting to hand him a new long-term contract, their efforts look set to go to waste.
That is because Ouest-France report that Camavinga has made the French side’s supporters aware that he has played his final game for the club.
The 18-year-old has made four appearances so far this season, though only one of those has been a start.
Instead, Camavinga has mainly been limited to substitute appearances which have seen him play just 97 minutes so far this term.
Rennes are understood to be ready to sell him for a fee in the region of £25million, alerting United who have already made an approach to the midfielder’s agent, Jonathan Barnett.
It marks a change in strategy for Rennes, with manager Bruno Genesio having played down reports that Camavinga would be departing earlier in the summer.
“We have already stressed several times that we cannot afford to remain in this situation concerning an international player like him,” Genesio said.
“It’s part of a career to have important decisions to make, he has a very important one [decision] to make for his future, and we at the club also have our interests to defend."
