Manchester United urged to ditch Jadon Sancho pursuit in favour of Manchester City target Kalidou Koulibaly

Manchester United have been tipped to abandon their drawn-out chase of Jadon Sancho in favour of Manchester City target Kalidou Koulibaly by ex-Liverpool forward John Barnes.

The Red Devils' interest in the Borussia Dortmund star has been well-documented and have spent the best part of the summer window attempting to agree a deal with the Germans. However, with less than two weeks to go in the transfer window, there appears to be no substantial progress made on that front.

Former Liverpool ace Barnes believes that Manchester United are placing too much emphasis on trying to sign the English star, and should divert their attention to signing Koulibaly.

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Koulibaly an ideal player for Manchester United according to ex-Liverpool star Barnes

Napoli star Koulibaly in action

Speaking on the record English champions pursuit of Jadon Sancho and their transfer business this summer, former Liverpool striker Barnes explained;

"Manchester United should look to sign a player like Kalidou Koulibaly, he has all the trademarks of a player they need in the heart of defence. As well as that, they should sign definitely sign a defensive midfielder as they look rather weak back there."

Manchester City have been strongly linked with a €70m move for the Senegalese centre-half this summer and are widely expected to complete his signing.

🌡️ Kalidou Koulibaly's WS rating per Serie A season for Napoli:14/15 - 7.1315/16 - 7.1916/17 - 7.2217/18 - 7.0418/19 - 7.0619/20 - 6.72👀 Last season saw Koulibaly garner a WS rating less than 7.00 for the first time 🤝 Personal terms reportedly agreed with #MCFC pic.twitter.com/plA6uRWX5W

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) September 1, 2020

Barnes, who won two top-flight titles and two FA Cups with Liverpool, expressed his belief that Manchester United are devoid of hardworking defensive midfielders to help them at the back. He continued,

"Everyone talks about Jadon Sancho playing with Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes if they were to bring him in, but there is no good being joyful about these options, if they can’t defend or have hardworking defensive midfield players to support them when they don’t have the ball.

Barnes reiterated that although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men have always boasted of some of the best attacking players in the world, they must invest in and solidify other positions. The 56-year-old added,

"Manchester United have always been about having the best attacking players in the world, but you can’t do that until you have the right balance, and currently they don’t have the right balance at all."

The Liverpool great also criticised the Red Devils' lack of consistency and attributed this weakness to the players 'getting carried away' after a win or two.

4 - Manchester United are the first side in @premierleague history to win four consecutive games by a margin of 3+ goals, with the last team to do so in the English top-flight being Liverpool in October 1987. Powerhouse. pic.twitter.com/5B2wmxEngS

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 9, 2020

Speaking on their drop in performances and inconsistent displays, Barnes explains;

"Manchester United have a good squad with some decent players but the problem Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has is that his players like to get carried away if they play well and win a game, the next week they take their eye off the prize and performance drops. One week Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba play well but the next week they don't. United just don't seem to have much consistency."

Donny van de Beek of Ajax has, so far, been the only purchase made by Manchester United this summer. They have been heavily linked with a move for Alex Telles of FC Porto, but are yet to make a breakthrough for the Brazilian star.

With the window set to close on October 5th, it remains to be seen how many players Manchester United manage to add to their squad.

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