Man Utd to Reject January Offers for Eric Bailly Following Sevilla Interest

Manchester United will resist any approaches for Eric Bailly in January, amid reports that Sevilla want to sign the Ivorian international on loan until the end of the season.

The Andalusian side, who recently lost Jeison Murillo on loan to Barcelona for the remainder of the campaign, want to strengthen their defensive options by bringing Bailly back to Spain, where he played for Espanyol and Villarreal before joining United.

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The Telegraph reports that United are reluctant to let Bailly leave because they are struggling in the defensive department are not expecting to make any landmark signings in January.

Bailly is currently serving a three match suspension after his sending off against Bournemouth. With Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo sidelined by injuries, that leaves Victor Lindelof and Phil Jones as the only senior centre backs available to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United want to to sign at least one top class defender, but they are unlikely to be able to acquire one this month, so they want to hold on to what they have for now.

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Bailly, who has been linked with Arsenal and AC Milan, is out of contract at the end of next season, but United have the option to extend his stay by a further two years if they so wish.

If any defender is likely to leave now or in January, it will be Rojo, who will be 29 in March and has only played 149 minutes of football this season because of injuries.

United's main defensive target next summer may be Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld, who will be available for £25m until the last two weeks of the summer transfer window.