Roma boss Mourinho ‘interested in’ £34.2m Man Utd player he brought to Old Trafford

Jason Soutar
Current Roma boss Jose Mourinho with Eric Bailly

Jose Mourinho is looking to bring Manchester United defender Eric Bailly to AS Roma, according to reports.

The Portuguese manager brought Bailly to Manchester back in 2016, signing him from La Liga outfit Villarreal for a fee in the region of £34.2million.


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The Ivorian centre-half played 39 times across all competitions in his debut season, helping the Red Devils lift the EFL Cup and Europa League.

His time in England has been hindered by injuries and as a result, has fallen down in the pecking order at the club.

Bailly only played seven matches last term and 2020/21 is the only time he has featured more than 18 times in a campaign, excluding his first year at Old Trafford.

Despite game time being scarce – on top of the signing of Lisandro Martinez from Ajax – the 28-year-old has told United he wants to stay at the club and fight for his place.

This is according to the Daily Mail, who claim that Roma boss Mourinho is ‘interested’ in bringing Bailly to the Italian capital.

United are ‘open to offers’ as they look to balance the books.

If Bailly makes the move to the Serie A club he will be reunited with Chris Smalling, who left the Red Devils for Giallorossi in 2020 after a successful loan spell.

The report adds that several Championship sides, including West Brom, Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Millwall, are interested in signing United youngster Hannibal Mejbri on loan.

Birmingham boss John Eustace admitted that he would be pleased to welcome the “very good” Tunisian international to the Midlands club.

Eustace said: “I am sure we are being linked with a lot of players, I know Hannibal is a very good player, Man United have got some fantastic young players in their squad.

“We had a fantastic one [Tahith Chong] come to the club last year and did very well.

“Listen, if good players are linked to Birmingham City that’s good for us.”