Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has adopted a ruthless stance and is reportedly ready to battle it out with Chelsea to sign Leicester City star Ben Chilwell with Luke Shaw’s future at Manchester United in doubt.
Despite the Red Devils having enjoyed an excellent run of form since the turn of the year – which has continued after the restart – they remain 34 points adrift of runaway Premier League champions Liverpool. Solskjaer knows only too well United need to close the gap at the top, saying last week that the club “will never stand still, we are always on the lookout if there’s anything possible”’
Chelsea and Manchester City have both shown keen interest in signing Chilwell too. And now The Sun reports that United have their sights set on strengthening the left-back, with Chilwell emerging as a major target for the Red Devils this summer.
Solskjaer is intent on building a defence that can challenge for the title next season and is ramping up efforts to sign the Leicester full-back, who has already usurped Shaw as England’s first-choice left-back. Chilwell has impressed defensively and going forward this season, scoring three times and laying on as many assists for the Champions League, chasing the Foxes.
Leicester’s valuation of the left-back stands at £60million – possibly hoping to incite a bidding war between United and Chelsea – who already has a relationship playing alongside Harry Maguire, who left the King Power Stadium for Old Trafford last summer.
Shaw, meanwhile, has had a great run enjoying one of his longest sprees in the United team, starting in their last 10 straight Premier League matches dating back to February against Wolves. However, United’s move for Chilwell now casts significant doubts over Shaw’s future.
United have remained unbeaten during that period and kept seven clean sheets, with Shaw delivering solid performances. Despite this, Solskjaer appears to view Shaw’s position as an area of the team that can be further improved on.
Chilwell is also known to have caught the attention and interest of Manchester City. Meanwhile, Chelsea may need to first offload Emerson Palmieri and Marcos Alonso to clear room for the England international and raise funds after forking out around £80m already on Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech, while they are also intent on pursuing Kai Havertz.
Credit: Football Tribe Malaysia
