Eric Bailly still open to United stay despite Erik ten Hag putting him up for sale
Eric Bailly wants to stay at Manchester United for the forthcoming season despite interest from newly-promoted Fulham.
The Athletic report that Marco Silva’s men are keen to add Bailly to their backline ahead of the start of their promotion bid.
The report also says that Bailly is up for sale, with United open to offers to get him out the exit door this summer.
But Bailly apparently wants to stay at Old Trafford and fight for his place under the new manager.
Bailly wants to stay at United
It is not quite clear why Bailly wants to stay at United.
He is currently at best fourth in the central defensive pecking order and his United career looked to be over after he was snubbed for the 4-0 defeat at Anfield last season.
The report says that there is transfer interest in Phil Jones, and if the Englishman did leave, they could boost Bailly’s hopes of games next season slightly.
But Lisandro Martinez is a major target for ten Hag, which would give the Dutchman four senior central defenders ahead of Bailly.
Of course, this is perhaps the consequence of United putting players on lucrative contracts, which creates little to no incentive for them to move on and take less money elsewhere.
Bailly signed a new deal last summer under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who described him as ‘fantastic‘ before another season where he hardly played.
We all know United need a clearout this summer, but this report – if it is true – underlines the potential stumbling blocks, even when there is Premier League interest in the squad’s fringe players.
