Football League World
·8 August 2023
Football League World
·8 August 2023
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Bayer Leverkusen are interested in Hull City transfer target Matej Kovar, and they could look to tempt Manchester United to sell the keeper by offering an initial £5m.
The 23-year-old Czech Republic youth international joined the Red Devils as a teenager, and he is very highly-rated at Old Trafford.
However, he has understandably found game time hard to come by at United, so several loans have been arranged in recent years. Most recently, Kovar went to Sparta Prague, and he played a key role as they won the Czech top division title, in what was an outstanding spell for the stopper.
Now back with the Premier League side, another move was always on the cards this summer, and it has been claimed that Liam Rosenior is looking to bring Kovar to Hull ahead of the deadline.
But, that won’t be straightforward, as Sun journalist Alan Nixon has revealed that Xabi Alonso wants to bring the keeper to Germany, and the club are considering a multi-million pound offer to United.
“Leverkusen want to buy Kovar ahead of interest from Hull City and Sparta Prague and could even offer around £5 million plus extras. Kovar is down the pecking order at United but starred for Sparta on loan last season and was willing to return. However, United could now cash in on Kovar with a surprise windfall.”
So, it remains to be seen what the next step is for Kovar, although the short-term could see him stay with United, as he has been involved with Erik ten Hag’s squad over pre-season.
Andre Onana is the number one for the Red Devils, with Tom Heaton the current backup, leaving Kovar as third choice whilst Dean Henderson recovers from injury, and there are doubts about his future as well.
Bringing in a new keeper had been one of the priorities for Rosenior this summer, and the club had wanted to do a deal for Karl Darlow after his successful loan, but he ended up joining Leeds United.
Matt Ingram’s impressive display in the opening day defeat to Norwich shows Hull aren’t in a desperate situation right now, but the reality is that the Tigers will want a new keeper.
Clearly though, a transfer for Kovar isn’t going to be straightforward, so they will need to have alternatives lined up.
Thimothee Lo-Tutala is a talented young keeper, but the fact he wasn’t in the XI as a rotated Hull side took on Doncaster in the League Cup on Tuesday evening suggests the boss doesn’t feel he is yet ready.
It has been a productive window for Hull so far, but there’s no denying that the squad still needs improving in certain areas, and you would expect a lot of business to be done ahead of the deadline, which is September 1.