Exclusive: Man Utd line up swap deal for England defender as Ratcliffe eyes Jarrad Branthwaite alternative

Manchester United are ready to offer Aaron Wan-Bissaka back to Crystal Palace in a swap deal for Marc Guehi, TEAMtalk can exclusively reveal.

United are in the market for centre-back reinforcements in this summer’s transfer window and Guehi, who started for England in their Euro 2024 opener against Serbia, is a long-term target for the Old Trafford club.

The 23-year-old has established himself as one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League and he has earned himself plenty of admirers.

Guehi has just two years left to run on his current deal at Palace and the Eagles are bracing themselves for interest in the former Chelsea youngster.

The Blues have been linked with re-signing the talented defender and Arsenal are also admirers of his, but United are thought to be at the front of the queue at this stage.

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The Red Devils are believed to be working with a restricted transfer budget due to concerns over PSR and FFP regulations and are looking at ways how they can cut down the cost of signing of their top targets.

TEAMtalk understands they could be willing to offer full-back Wan-Bissaka in part-exchange for Guehi rather than paying over £50m to Palace for him.

Man Utd line up swap deal for England star

Wan-Bissaka’s future at United has been the subject of speculation for some time with the defender struggling to hold down a regular place in the starting XI.

The 26-year-old, who joined United from Palace for £50m in 2019, is entering the final year of his contract at Old Trafford and TEAMtalk can confirm there have been no talks over a new deal.

Doing a swap deal for Guehi by offering Wan-Bissaka in part-exchange could prove an easier and cheaper deal than trying to sign Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite with the Merseyside outfit holding out for £70million for the centre-back.

As our sources confirmed last week, United’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has identified Guehi and Branthwaite as his two top centre-back targets.

The Red Devils have already made an offer of £35m for Branthwaite which was instantly rejected by Everton, who won’t be held to ransom by Ratcliffe despite their need to make a big sale before June 30th.

United could now turn their attention to Guehi instead and while Oliver Glasner is determined to keep him at Selhurst Park, sending Wan-Bissaka back to Palace could help convince him into a sale.

Guehi, meanwhile, is ready to take the next big step in his career and it’s thought he would be open to joining Erik ten Hag’s side.

It will be interesting to see how much cash United are willing to offer alongside Wan-Bissaka as that will be the key factor in any potential agreement.

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