Johan Bakayoko believes that around £40 million may be enough to sign him in the summer with Manchester United keen on the PSV Eindhoven winger.
As the Red Devils show an interest in yet another Eredivisie player, you can almost sense the eye rolling already.
It’s fair to say Erik ten Hag’s track record, when it comes to signing players from the Dutch top-flight, is patchy to say the least, with Lisandro Martinez the only one who can be considered an unquestionable success even if Andre Onana does appear to be moving in the right direction at last.
When it comes to a certain PSV youngster, however, Johan Bakayoko maybe deserves the benefit of the doubt.
The barnstorming Belgian, linked with Manchester United by Sport1 in December, already looks like a big fish in a relatively small pond, with his Champions League performances – particularly that scintillating display against Arsenal – proof of Bakayoko’s ability to make the requisite step up against higher-level opposition.
Manchester United eye PSV’s Johan Bakayoko
Searingly quick, devastating in one-v-one situations and capable of going both ways, Bakayoko appears to have far more flexibility and unpredictability to his game than the man he might end up replacing at United too, Antony losing his place in Ten Hag’s XI after a dreadful second season at Old Trafford.
Bakayoko was asked this week, in conversation with ESPN, how much he feels he would be worth in today’s market. And the 20-year-old believes a fee between £35 and £45 million may be ‘reasonable’.
A sum that would see Bakayoko leave the Eredivisie for half the amount Man United splashed out on Antony back in 2022.
“I think that’s a really funny question. You also have to look at what others can do,” Bakayoko muses. “If you look closely and look very objectively, I don’t think there are many players my age who do what I do.
“I don’t know what the prices are, but I think between 40 and 50 million euros is reasonable.”
Antony’s possible Old Trafford replacement
Bakayoko has six goals and 13 assists in all competitions this season. It is likely that he has been lined up as an alternative to one of Man United’s leading summer targets, Ineos setting their sights on Crystal Palace’s Red Devils fanatic Michael Olise (The Standard).
PSV director Earnest Stewart, meanwhile, has already admitted that this is likely to be Bakayoko’s final season in a PSV shirt.
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