Highlights
- Manchester United has shown interest in signing Denzel Dumfries from Inter Milan, with coach Erik ten Hag reportedly a fan of the player.
- Negotiations for Dumfries’ contract extension have broken down, indicating he may leave Inter in the off-season.
- Dumfries is known for his attacking prowess, but his defensive stats are not as impressive as United right-back Diogo Dalot’s, suggesting he may need to adapt his playing style if he joins United.
When he took over at Manchester United, Erik ten Hag’s first signing was a fellow Dutchman, with left-back Tyrell Malacia arriving from Feyenoord in a £15m deal.
Six months on, in the January transfer window, Ten Hag looked to another compatriot, this time on loan, as the Red Devils struck a deal for Burnley forward Wout Weghorst.
Now, 2024 could see the United boss make it a hat-trick, with Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries emerging as a clear target. Reports last month revealed that the Premier League top-four chasers are showing an interest in Dumfries and, significantly, named competitors Bayern Munich have since signed an alternative in Galatasaray’s Sacha Boey.
Ten Hag is said to “love” the player and would apparently have signed him already if he’d had the chance. The door may now be open, with the 27-year-old into the final 18 months of his contract and in the midst of a contractual impasse with Inter. He’s demanding €5m per season and the Serie A leaders are refusing to go beyond €4m after a disadvantageous change to tax laws. That means that Simone Inzaghi’s side are bracing themselves to “say goodbye”.
Man Utd at the head of the queue for Dumfries
Now, in a fresh Dumfries to Man Utd update from Calciomercato (via Sport Witness) it’s said that the Red Devils are “in the front row” for the signing. With Bayern out of the picture, they now look to be in pole position.
Negotiations over an extension at San Siro have broken down, and so “everything suggests” that Dumfries will bring his spell with the Nerazzurri to an end in the off-season.
Dumfries is a different type player to Dalot
Former United defender Rio Ferdinand has previously described Dumfries as “dangerous”, and his attacking output this season certainly proves that. Only two defenders – team-mate Federico Dimarco (eight) and cross-city rival Theo Hernandez (six) have notched more Serie A goal involvements than his five.
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Inzaghi has been using Dumfries and Dimarco as wing-backs in his 3-5-2 shape, and while that gives him the license to attack the opposition penalty area, it seems that the defensive responsibility lies elsewhere.
Metric | Denzel Dumfries percentile | Diogo Dalot percentile |
|---|---|---|
Tackles per 90 | 21st | 65th |
Interceptions per 90 | 5th | 68th |
Blocks per 90 | 63rd | 43rd |
Clearances per 90 | 14th | 86th |
The table above shows how Dumfries compares with United right-back Diogo Dalot for a number of key defensive categories. The percentile ranks you can see are based on positional peers in the big five leagues and European competition over the past year. While Dalot only ranks especially high for clearances, Dumfries is right down near the bottom when it comes to that metric, as well as tackles and interceptions. If he joins United, he’ll either have to get used to doing much more defending, or Ten Hag will have to rejig things to replicate his role at Inter.
