Man Utd Target Set for Anderlecht Stay as Red Devils Hold Off on Move for Time Being
Manchester United will not attempt to bring Leander Dendoncker to the club this summer - despite enquiring about the Anderlecht star's availability.
The Red Devils have been linked with enticing the towering midfielder to Old Trafford ahead of the new season, but the Manchester Evening News claimed that United would not look to snap Dendoncker up for the time being.
United are believed to have made tenative enquiries about Dendoncker to Anderlecht's hierarchy in the close season but, following the £40m capture of Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, will wait 12 months before deciding whether to make their interest more concrete.
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Dendoncker is valued between £22m and £31m by Anderlecht, but that would have been no obstacle to United pressing ahead with a transfer if they desired to do so.
Jose Mourinho has supposedly been a fan of the 22-year-old ever since his side locked horns with the Belgian giants during last season's triumphant Europa League run.
Dendoncker impressed against United at the quarter-final stage last term, and even netted a late equaliser in the first-leg tie in Brussels.
His effervescent, domineering display caught the eye of other managers too, but Mourinho and United are said to be far and away the favourites to land him when the time is right.
Anderlecht boss Herman Van Holsbeeck only recently stated that Les Mauves et Blancs would struggle to keep hold of Dendoncker if a bid between €25m and €35m was made by an interested party.
He said: “We want to cherish him, but if a club is willing to pay between €25m and €35m, we have a problem.
“Against Man United [in the Europa League], he has shown twice that he has the potential to play at a top European club.”
Dendoncker has featured 128 times for Anderlecht's first team over the past three seasons - 57 of which came in a mammoth season for Van Holsbeeck's squad in 2016/17.
The 6'2 defensive midfielder, who has been capped twice by the senior Belgian national side, is contracted to the club until June 2021 .
