Manchester United has reportedly made contact with the representatives of Borussia Monchengladbach striker Alassane Plea, according to reports. United have a number of strikers linked to the club with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looking to rectify the problems of last summer after allowing Romelu Lukaku to leave the squad with United lacking firepower.
During the current season, United had just Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood as the clubs main strikers, one of them had little first team experience before the 2019/20 season. Both Martial and Rashford have had long spells on the sidelines through injury, leading to Odion Ighalo being signed on loan in January.
Plea was having a good season at Monchengladbach before the coronavirus pandemic suspended world football and the player will be itching to get back into the game with the Bundesliga returning this weekend. Plea will line up against Eintracht Frankfurt at 17:30 BST on Saturday evening, which would be a good match to watch.
The 27-year-old has scored eight goals, assisting eight more in a total of 28 appearances so far this season, playing in the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, and the UEFA Europa League – playing 2,024 minutes of football. He could be doing a lot better but could become an impact striker for the club with Solskjaer seemingly aiming to keep Martial as the main striker.
United may be rivalled by both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal if their interest in the Frenchman is real. However, Solskjaer seems more interested in signing Moussa Dembele from Lyon, with the Frenchman being linked to United for a few transfer windows now. It is clear to say that a striker is on the agenda this summer.
Plea can play as a centre-forward, which is the position he has predominantly played in this season, making 24 of his 28 appearances in this role, scoring all eight goal and six of his assists – seemingly stating that this is the position he is most deadly in. He can also play as a left-winger and a right-winger. This could be helpful moving forward.
Sky Germany has reported that United have ‘intensified’ their interest in Plea and that discussions have commenced with his representation to find out his availability ahead of the 2020/21 season. Perhaps United are putting a few options in place, should something happen and them ending up not signing their main target, which is good business sense.
Plea started his youth career at Ascq, then moving to Wasquehal, then to Lyon. He got his debut in the first team at Lyon and was loaned to Auxerre for a season. After Lyon, Plea signed for Nice, leaving France in 2018 for Germany, signing for Monchengladbach signing a five year contract for a fee of around €25 million.
The 27-year-old is contracted to the German club until the summer of 2023 and is still valued at about €24 million, which works out to about £21 million. United could spent in excess of £60 million to sign Dembele this summer from Lyon, so if that fails, signing about a third of that would present good business if it worked out for the player and the club.
