Manchester United could make their move for Manu Kone as early as today if reports in Italy are anything to go by.
According to Corriere dello Sport, the Red Devils are considered ‘frontrunners’ in the race for the player.
Manu Kone: The state of play after World Cup conclusion
Roma are now said to be ‘braced’ for approaches from Kone’s suitors after his World Cup involvement officially came to an end on Saturday night in the third-place play-off.
A lot of reports suggest that Manchester United are looking at him, and I think that would be excellent.
“It's, from what we hear, a great market opportunity, the value that you could get him from Roma.”
France’s Manu Kone was one of the World Cup’s breakout stars – and… pic.twitter.com/xi1fA5gZJE
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) July 15, 2026
The 25-year-old featured five times for France in their journey to the semi-finals, but was surprisingly left out of Didier Deschamps’ XI for their clash with eventual winners Spain – despite overseeing a stellar display in the quarter-final win over Morocco.
He was brought on at the interval, but the damage had already mostly been done by the Spaniards, after which France went on to lose 2-0.
Kone could make England move for first time in his career
At club level, Kone has represented Roma for the last two years.
Manu Kone 🇫🇷 vs Juventus pic.twitter.com/FGLujvwQp7
— ASRomaComps (@roma_comps) April 7, 2025
He originally joined on loan for 2024/2025 before signing for the Serie A outfit permanently upon the culmination of his temporary spell for around £15.3 million – thanks to the buy clause in his contract.
This summer, it’s anticipated that Roma will demand £43m to sanction his exit in hopes of staying within the Financial Fair Play limitations.
United have already wrapped up two deals in the form of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, with the former of the pair making his uncompetitive debut in Saturday’s pre-season meeting with Wrexham.
Tielemans playing with Belgium until the World Cup quarters means he will be granted a short holiday before beginning his preparations for 2026/2027 – as will be the case for Lisandro Martinez, who went off injured in last night’s final, Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford.
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