Man Utd to Beat Chelsea in a Transfer Race for £30m Star as Player Handed in TRANSFER REQUEST

It’s not only Real Madrid star Gareth Bale that Man Utd and Chelsea are fighting over. According to the latest reports, both clubs are on collision course for the signing of Southampton winger Sadio Mane. According to Daily Mirror, Chelsea and Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have joined Man Utd in the pursuit of the Saints’ star.

According to the report, the 23-year old has told the Saints that he doesn’t want to sign a new contract with the club and would prefer a move to one of the Europe’s biggest clubs.

The Senegal forward’s current contract expires in 2018, and the Saints are expected to demand a minimum transfer fee of £30 million for him. United, who failed in their attempts to sign the player in the summer transfer window, wants to seal the deal for the player in January, but will now have to face competition from Chelsea and Bayern.

The Saints plan to have to crunch talks with their player in the coming days and expect him to stay at St. Mary’s at least till summer.  Manager Ronald Koeman dropped the player to the bench in the defeat against Norwich after he turned up late for the team meeting. The Dutch manager blasted Mane following the 1-0 defeat to Norwich on Saturday.

“I feel let down by some players, yes of course – because we had a different line-up for the game,” said Koeman. “Sadio was in to start but we have rules in the team, and he did a big mistake before the game in our last meeting. He came late, and that’s impossible.”

“Everybody knows that we have a sanction – you don’t start. So then you have to make changes in the team, changes to all the set-pieces, everything. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand a player that comes in late to the last meeting. You will have to ask him why. I don’t know. I didn’t ask – otherwise, then you get into details, and it is already too late.”
“My message to Sadio two days ago in training was that I didn’t think he was really focused and concentrated,” Koeman added.

“Yes I feel let down by him, but it’s felt much more by his team-mates because we are a club where we like to treat everybody very respectfully, and you have responsibilities as a player, to the fans, to your team-mates, to your board, to the technical staff.”