Man Utd want to sign ‘next Neymar’ in bold summer deal following huge Nemanja Matic praise

Premier League giants Manchester United are willing to fight for a deal to sign rising French prodigy Désiré Doué from Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain.

The Red Devils are currently experiencing their worst season of the Premier League era and are expected to back Ruben Amorim in the transfer window with the funds he needs to overhaul the squad and get the team back on track.

United are expected to receive around £40m for Marcus Rashford from Aston Villa at the end of his loan deal if he continues his recent resurgence while Brazil international Antony has also shown renewed signs of promise out on loan at Real Betis prompting talk that a permanent exit could be on the cards.

There’s also speculation surrounding the future of Alejandro Garnacho, who despite struggling for consistency this season, is still thought to be held in high regard by the likes of Napoli and Chelsea after intense speculation surrounding a reported £60m move in January.

Manchester United target Désiré Doué

Should one or potentially two or more of United’s wingers depart in the summer, it would free up funds for Amorim to try and make the squad his own, and one player that ranks highly in his list of targets is thought to be Desire Doue.

Spanish outlet Fichajes claims the Red Devils are huge fans of the 19-year-old French international, who lit up the Champions League quarter-final with a phenomenal strike from distance against Premier League side Aston Villa. Doue came through the ranks at Rennes and broke into the first team in 2021 when he notably became the first player born in 2005 to score in any of Europe’s top five leagues.

He scored eight and registered seven assists across all competitions for the Ligue 1 side before joining reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2024 for an estimated fee of around 50 million Euros. The teenager has scored 12 and assisted 12 already in 43 appearances since joining the capital club and has thrived as both a central attacking midfielder and on either wing throughout the campaign.

‘The next Neymar’

Desire Doue is a player with bags of creative flair, speed and technical ability which makes him a nightmare for defenders to contain.

‘Doué’ is the French word for ‘gifted’, and he has lived up to the tag by being the most creative player in Europe’s top five leagues in terms of average chances created per game which is 2.64, putting him ahead of the likes of Exequiel Palacios of Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich pair Michael Olise and Kingsley Coman and ironically Antony, who looks like a man reborn in Betis.

Opta Sport has compare the winger to Neymar, with the outlet explaining: “There are stylistic echoes of Neymar in his game. Doué has a habit of standing defenders up, slowing the play down before trying a skill to burst past them, or flicking the ball behind himself with his instep to find an overlapping teammate. It may seem harsh on the Brazilian to say, but one of the key differences between Doué and Neymar is that the youngster also does his fair share of defensive work.

Ex-United midfielder Nemanja Matić, who played alongside Doue at Rennes said last season: "In my entire career, I've never played in such a young team, with players at 19 or 20 years old," said Matic, as quoted by the Ligue 1 website.

"[But] it's always interesting to see how they progress. Desire has great potential. There are a few others but I don't want to say their names because I don't think it's good for them."

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