According to a report in Fichajes(h/t Fotmob), Manchester United and MCFC are interested in signing Brighton and Hove Albion winger Kaoru Mitoma during the January transfer window.
Kaoru Mitoma joined the Seagulls in 2021 for a transfer fee of just €3 million and last season, the 26-year-old was one of the biggest stars in the Premier League. He played in 33 league games last season, scoring seven and assisting five goals and this campaign, he’s already had six goal involvements in seven appearances.
It’s no surprise that two of the biggest English clubs are interested in signing the winger but the hard-to-digest part is that City and United want to bring him on board during the January transfer window.
Will Brighton allow Kaoru Mitoma to leave at the start of the new year?
Manchester City and Man United are two of the biggest teams in Europe but right now, they do not need a player like Kaoru Mitoma.
City have Grealish and Phil Foden who play out on the left plus they have also brought Jeremy Doku into the squad. On the other side of town, Manchester United have Marcus Rashford who is the number one choice on the left wing and currently, Ten Hag has the ideal backup in the form of Garnacho.
Obviously, teams are always on the lookout to improve their squad but neither of the two Manchester sides are in such crisis that they will need to go after such a high-profile player during the middle of the season.
Brighton are a team who are always ready to sell players for the correct price but City and United will find it next to impossible to sign Mitoma in January.
Firstly, the Seagulls do not like to negotiate on their original price tag even if that means losing players for cheap in the next window. We saw this with Moises Caicedo in the summer and if Man City and Man United come calling then they will adopt a similar strategy.
Kaoru Mitoma is currently valued at €32 million and his contract expires in 2025 but according to talkSPORT, he is about to sign a new five-year deal in which he is going to get a bumper pay rise.
There’s bound to be a massive release clause in the new contract so it’s highly unlikely that City or United will be able to get their hands on him in January.
The two Manchester teams do not urgently need a left winger, that too in the middle of the campaign and if Mitoma puts pen to paper before January then these two will not even get a sniff in.
