United "in talks" over French midfielder

Today's gossip features the return of an old rumour as Manchester United are once again linked with Sevilla's Geoffrey Kondogbia.

The news comes from a local paper, Diario de Sevilla, who went as far as to say that the two clubs were already in negotiations over the transfer.

Kondogbia has been in the press quite a lot lately, and he's been at the Under-20 World Cup, but the United link had gone cold until now. Chelsea and Real Madrid were the names mentioned more often, although the Blues seem a far more likely destination given Real are so well-stocked for holding midfielders, particularly with the addition of Casemiro.

The price quoted for other clubs appears to have been around £15m, but for some reason, United are apparently convinced they can get him for less, partly because we might think about loaning him back to Sevilla for a year, Wilfried Zaha-style.

Personally, I've not seen too much of him, but there's plenty of time to change that with the Under-20 World Cup taking place. I think sending him back on loan for the sake of saving a few million is a bad idea, however - United have absolutely no cover for Michael Carrick, and even if we sign another midfielder we'll be in real trouble if either one of them gets injured. This one will probably roll on as Chelsea up the ante, if the reports are true, but we'll keep an eye on it.