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Man Utd in discussions to sign World Cup winner

Manchester United have been linked with a number of centre-backs this summer as it appears to be just a matter of when and not if we will strengthen our defence before the start of the 2018-19 Premier League season.

We kick things off against Leicester City at Old Trafford on Friday 10 August but have so far yet to land a new centre-back this summer.

With Victor Lindelof not settling into English football following his big money move from Benfica last summer and with Jose Mourinho not keen on either Phil Jones not Chris Smalling, there is somewhat of an urgency to bring in a new player here.

The likes of Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld, AC Milan’s Leonardo Bonucci and Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane have all been strongly linked but no progress has been made over the past couple of weeks.

One player we were linked with earlier in the summer was Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng.  Despite the 29-year-old having a poor World Cup in which Germany finished bottom of their group, it looks as though we could sign the German international this summer.

That’s because German outlet Kicker (via TeamTalk) are reporting that we have opened preliminary talks with the German champions over a possible move for the centre-back.

Bayern Munich value Boateng at €60 million (£53m) and already have a ready-made replacement for the former-Manchester City man in Nicklas Sule, who played several games for the Bundesliga club last season, along with Mats Hummels.

Jerome Boateng has been at the Allianz Arena since 2011 where he joined from Manchester City, whom he spent one season with, seeing little action, and often when he did, was played out of position at right-back.

During his time in Bavaria Boateng has been one of the better centre-backs in world football, winning six Bundesliga titles, four German cups, the 2013 Champions League and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

However, the centre-back is believed to be after a new challenge and Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge even confirmed earlier in the month that the club are ready to cash-in if the receive a respectable offer.

Jerome Boateng is generally a solid defender but I must admit he is prone to making a fair few howlers over the course of a season – his concentration levels aren’t always at their peak.  I’d welcome him at Old Trafford but there are better options available in my opinion.