The FIVE players Man Utd need to sell to fund Mbappe's transfer

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 23 Jul 2023 07:06 CDT
• 3 min read

Kylian Mbappe has been transfer listed by Paris Saint-Germain with the club desperate not to lose him on a free transfer to Real Madrid next summer. Could Manchester United afford to swoop in?

United are in the market for a new striker, and there a few, if any, in the world better than PSG and France superstar Mbappe.

Paris have left for their pre-season tour of Japan without him, convinced that he has a deal in place to join Madrid on a free transfer in 2024, but in the meantime they have transfer listed him, hoping to cash in this summer.

READ: Kylian Mbappe and PSG receive ASTRONOMICAL offer from Saudi Arabia

Whilst they haven't gone public with his asking price, it is understood they want between €150-€200 million. Mbappe's ETV is €162.5m per FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, so that seems to be a reasonable target for United to try and hit through players sales.

As a reminder, United had a transfer budget of £120m (€139m) this summer due to Financial Fair Play, and they have spent €116.7m of that on Chelsea's Mason Mount and Inter Milan's Andre Onana, leaving €22.3m left over.

They have since received €1m from FC Utrecht for Zidane Iqbal and €4.6m from Al-Nassr for Alex Telles.

READ: Mbappe REJECTS €400m summer transfer

But that leaves them some way short of an Mbappe budget, and they would need to pull the plug on their Rasmus Hojlund negotiations, with Atalanta wanting €70m for their promising Danish striker.

Who to sell?

United could get the bulk of the way there in selling some fringe players, four of whom it is known they will listen to offers for. Harry Maguire (€23.5m), Anthony Martial (€24.2m), Scott McTominay (€23.3m) and Donny van de Beek (€13.3m) are each available for transfer, and would fetch United a further €84.3 if their values were met.

Add a valuable fringe player like Jadon Sancho (€53m) into the mix and United would be most of the way there, with €27.9m in the bank and €137.3m made from player sales.

And perhaps PSG would let United off with the missing €2.7m if it means not losing Mbappe for nothing next summer? The French champions would also save €90m on a "loyalty" bonus and €60m for next seasons' salary if they sold.