Manchester United sell Timothy Fosu-Mensah to Bayer Leverkusen

Manchester United’s first act in the January transfer has been to sell Timothy Fosu-Mensah.

The 23-year-old Dutch defender has joined Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen for a fee of £1.8 million.

Fosu-Mensah had been offered a deal to stay at the club but he failed to agree a new deal and so was sold in order to avoid losing him for nothing at the end of the season, as he was free to sign a pre-contract agreement with a club based outside England.

United had triggered an extension to keep him on for this campaign but he again found it difficult to gain first team action, and Bayer appear to have beaten both Ajax and Hertha Berlin to his signature.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said last week that Fosu-Mensah, who can play across the back line and in midfield, had “not played enough” and would be allowed to join somebody else.

“It’s difficult when you’ve got good players, talented players, and you can’t give them game time,” Solskjaer said.

He made his debut in the 2015/16 season and the following year made 11 appearances for the first team, the most appearances he made in a single season for the club. However he has only made the first team on 30 occasions for United.

He also spent the 2017/18 season on loan at Crystal Palace and then returned to London the following season for another year in the Premier League with Fulham.

Elsewhere, the Mirror reports that Nice could become Manchester United fans’ new favourite club, with speculation that they could be in the market for 28-year-old forward Jesse Lingard.

Lingard had his contract unilaterally extended for another season to preserve his resale value but it is believed that United and Solskjaer are happy to let him go should they receive a suitable offer.