Manchester United Pursue Manu Kone Amid Roma's Financial Issues
Manchester United’s midfield rebuild is accelerating, and the next piece of the puzzle has a very clear name: Manu Kone.
Having already brought in Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, United are pushing to add a third central midfielder this summer. The club have moved behind the scenes for the 25-year-old Roma man, whose World Cup run with France ends with Saturday’s bronze final against England.
Until now, Kone has kept everything on ice. Reports in Italy say he instructed his agency, Excellence Sport Nation (ESN) – the same group that represents Bryan Mbeumo and also works with France team-mates Aurelien Tchouameni, Jules Kounde and Mike Maignan – to park all transfer talks until after the tournament. The focus was the World Cup. Nothing else.
That pause is about to end.
United, Chelsea and a player ready to move
United are understood to have approached Kone’s entourage and are preparing to move once France’s campaign is over, with Chelsea lurking in the background. The London club have already been in contact with Roma during discussions involving Alejandro Garnacho, and Kone’s name has featured in those conversations.
The Italian press expects both Premier League sides to formalise their interest in the coming days. Gazzetta dello Sport reports that offers from United and Chelsea are anticipated shortly, with the player himself described as open – and willing – to sign for United.
Just one thing stands in the way of that being a straightforward decision: his dream.
Kone’s ideal destination is Paris Saint-Germain. That preference has been consistent, but with a move to the back-to-back Champions League winners not currently on the table, Corriere dello Sport now casts United as frontrunners for his signature. Once the World Cup is over, a decision is expected quickly. The feeling in Italy is that next week could be decisive.
Roma’s price – and their problem
Roma’s stance is clear. They want around £47million for Kone. At that figure, the Serie A club would bank a profit of roughly £34m, a significant number at a time when the balance sheet matters almost as much as the league table.
It has to. UEFA fined Roma £5m earlier this summer for breaching the targets in their settlement agreement and for allowing their squad cost ratio to climb above 70%. A substantial profit on Kone would go a long way towards settling that dispute and easing the pressure.
Head coach Gian Piero Gasperini has not tried to disguise the situation. Speaking to Radio Rai 1, he laid out the reality facing the club, stressing that Roma “have to balance the budgets,” admitting that the task has been “tough in recent years” and that even Champions League qualification was not the financial cure-all they had hoped for. Budgets, he underlined, “must be respected,” with more clarity expected in the coming weeks.
Clarity, in this case, may well mean selling one of their most valuable assets.
A breakout year on the biggest stage
On the pitch, Kone has done everything he can to justify the attention. Gasperini described how the midfielder produced a “great first half of the season” for Roma before an injury interrupted his rhythm in the second half of the campaign. Any doubts about his trajectory have been answered in the summer.
“He’s having a great World Cup,” Gasperini said, highlighting how Kone has gone from being outside the France setup last year to claiming a starting spot at this tournament. That leap – from squad hopeful to first-choice option – underlines both his development and his ceiling.
For United, that profile is exactly what they have been chasing: a midfielder in his mid‑20s, hardened by Serie A, now proven on the international stage, and available at a price that, while steep, fits a clear strategic need. For Roma, he is leverage in a financial equation that has to be solved.
The World Cup bronze final will close one chapter for Kone. The next, whether written in Manchester, London or left waiting on a distant dream in Paris, is about to be decided.
