1 After conceding a scarcely believable 85 goals in all competitions last season, it is no surprise that Manchester United are prioritising fixing their leaky defence before any of the other positions.

INEOS must find a long-term partner for Lisandro Martinez and the club have so far found little success in their approach for Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite.

The Red Devils have also encountered enormous roadblocks when going after alternative targets like Marc Guehi, Leny Yoro and Jean-Clair Todibo and it seems the club is pondering over returning for an old favourite of the manager.

United's CB search Erik ten Hag's transfer tactic since arriving in Manchester has been trying to recruit players he has worked with in the past like Martinez, Antony, Andre Onana just to name a few.

The manager is a huge admirer of another of his former Ajax products, Matthijs de Ligt and United are planning on an assault for the Bayern Munich star.

Bundesliga transfer expert Christian Falk, writing in his CaughtOffside column, claimed that the Bavarian giants need money to further invest into their squad and are open to the Netherlands international's sale.

However, they have slapped an asking price of EUR70 million, something United will not pay. The English giants are prepared to pay around half and it will be interesting to see if Vincent Kompany's team accept those terms.

"FC Bayern have to sell players in order to be able to continue purchasing. Erik ten Hag, who is currently negotiating a contract extension with Manchester United, would like to bring in Matthijs de Ligt.

De Ligt price "Accordingly, ten Hag should be prepared to pay a high transfer fee for de Ligt. Bayern want up to EUR70m, but Manchester United should only want to pay half. The new coach Vincent Kompany wants to rely on other players in defence."

Bayern had paid an initial EUR70 million plus add-ons for the 24-year-old, who has enjoyed a mixed time in Munich, winning the Bundesliga two campaigns ago but finding regular minutes hard to come by last season.

The team from Bavaria are hunting for new defensive recruits and De Ligt, who had turned down United in the past, is now more open to a transfer to reunite with his former coach.

The combo of De Ligt and Martinez had done wonders for Ajax in the past and Ten Hag will be hoping INEOS can back him in this particular endeavour.

Ayantan Chowdhury Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25