Luka Jovic looks Man United bound despite stiff competition | OneFootball

Manchester United face stiff competition in their pursuit of a loan deal for Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic.

The 22-year-old struggled to get minutes for los Blancos last season after two sensational years at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Zinedine Zidane is keen to send the Serbian back out on loan this term, in order both to give minutes to another young striker, Borja Mayoral, and to save at least some of his salary.

According to Spanish outlet AS, ‘Manchester United are currently the best placed to get the loan… after the English club has advanced considerably throughout this Tuesday in negotiations with both the player’s agent and with Real Madrid.’

AS goes on to claim that a loan move to Old Trafford is ‘a possibility that seduces’ Jovic, but that it is not the only option.

‘Roma, Inter and Milan want him and are still candidates. Roma is the club that has come closest to an agreement.

‘Any of the interested parties will assume Jovic’s salary, around 8 million euros gross, a figure that Madrid will save.

Meanwhile, Calciomercato.com in Italy have claimed that it is in fact Roma who are favourites to sign the striker rather than United, having turned their attentions from Mayoral once the latter decided to stay at the Bernabeu rather than accept a €10 million move to Rome.

‘Roma are on pole for Luka Jovic. In the last few hours the Borja Mayoral track seems to have cooled, with Real Madrid preferring to give up the Serbian.

‘Zidane has already given his approval and now there is only to choose between the three main proposals: Rome, Inter and Milan, in order.

‘Los Blancos and the player agree that his next destination must be the one that will guarantee him the most game time and it is precisely for this reason the Giallorossi are ahead of the other competitors.’

Calciomercato seem to have a very different idea to AS of Jovic’s salary:

‘The central question relates to the salary of 4 million received by Jovic, which the Giallorossi would like to lower.’

However, late last night the outlet posted an update admitting that ‘Jovic … wants Manchester United: the English club in the afternoon would have made important progress in the negotiations with Real and with the striker’s agent and would be the first choice of the former Eintracht Frankfurt man.

‘Rome, Inter and Milan are still in the running.’

The fact is that for once, this is a battle that United should win. Roma do not have the financial clout to absorb even €4m of Jovic’s wages and Inter are unlikely to be too serious about the move when they already have Lautaro Martinez, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez as attacking options.

The fact that Jovic is reportedly keen on United should make this one a slam dunk, even for United’s bumbling negotiators, and as such there is a very real possibility that Jovic could be wearing a red shirt in the very near future.