Manchester United and Chelsea handed boost in pursuit of French forward: report

Manchester United and Chelsea have both been handed a boost in their pursuit for a top-quality striker, with one highly-rated French forward making himself available after refusing to sign a new contract at his current club.

Manchester United have been vastly improved under Erik ten Hag this season, but still require someone other than Marcus Rashford to stick the ball in the back of the net. Anthony Martial’s injury woes continue to haunt him, while Wout Weghorst is only on loan until the end of the season.

Despite spending over £400 million on new signings over the past two transfer windows, Chelsea are also lacking an out-and-out goalscorer. Romelu Lukaku is due to return from a loan spell at Inter Milan at the end of the season, but whether or not he’ll be a part of Graham Potter’s plans remains to be seen.

Borussia Monchengladbach striker Marcus Thuram is out of contract in the summer, though, and the 25-year-old has refused to sign an extension at the German side.

Clubs outside of Germany can therefore begin negotiations with Thuram and his agent, with a view to signing him on a pre-contract ahead of joining properly in the summer. 

Thuram has 11 goals in 20 Bundesliga games so far this season, carrying Gladbach to eighth in the table in what has been an underwhelming season so far. He even managed to hit the winner against Bayern Munich most recently, in a 3-2 win. 

He also made five appearances at World Cup 2022, assisting twice as France reached the final. 

Manchester United and Chelsea have both been linked with Thuram in the past, but plenty of Europe’s elite are reportedly interested in the striker. Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle United have all been keeping tabs on him, while Italian side Inter Milan could pounce, too.

Thuram is valued at £28.5 million by Transfermarkt, despite the lack of time left on his contract, meaning whoever manages to sign him for free will be getting an absolute bargain. 

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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture’s websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.