Sebastian Kehl has been speaking about Manchester United target Thomas Meunier – his comments provide bad news for both Erik ten Hag and Crystal Palace.
What’s the story?
Well, it was said that Ten Hag is keen to bring a new right-back to Old Trafford, and the Belgium international is on his radar.
Should Manchester United be successful in their pursuit of Meunier, then it would allow Aaron Wan-Bissaka to leave for Crystal Palace. The south Londoners are in talks to re-sign their academy graduate.
However, both the Red Devils and the Eagles have now suffered a blow, as Kehl – Director of Football at Borussia Dortmund – has firmly stated that the Belgian will not be sold.
The 42-year-old said: “We have no intention of selling Thomas Meunier. Currently it’s absolutely not our plan to sell him.”
Of course, anything can happen – Kehl seems to realise that as he uses the word “currently” – but the German seemed very definitive when making his statement on behalf of the German giants.
Crystal Palace & Manchester United should carry on as usual
In our view, both Premier League sides have enough options in their right-back department to go into the 2022/23 campaign.
Wan-Bissaka remains a fine talent, and in truth, we are disappointed to see Ten Hag be so quick to dismiss him as a viable first-team starter since replacing Ralf Rangnick.
With a bit of proper coaching, the south Londoners can restore his £50m value – the same goes for Diogo Dalot, who is not a bad player, but has simply suffered due to the chaos at Old Trafford in recent times.
In Crystal Palace’s case, Patrick Vieira has Joel Ward and Nathaniel Clyne, while Chris Richards – who recently joined from Bayern Munich – can also play there.
Of course, it would be nice for Crystal Palace and Manchester United to sign Wan-Bissaka and Meunier respectively, but it isn’t a nightmare if they are left with their existing right-back options.
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