Fabrizio Romano provides update on Manchester United transfer links with 'unhappy' £52m Chelsea star

Fabrizio Romano has appeared to pour cold water on links between Manchester United and Christopher Nkunku, reporting that concrete talks on January targets haven’t yet taken place at Old Trafford.

United have been backed to splash the cash in January, following Ruben Amorim’s arrival as head coach earlier this week. The promising Portuguese coach was appointed to replace the under-performing Erik ten Hag and will expect to be financially supported by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who only took a controlling role in the club at the start of this year.

Among the many names being linked is Nkunku, with French outlet L’Equipe claiming United had ‘enquired’ about the French international ahead of a possible January move. Football Insider then claimed the attacker is ‘unhappy’ with a lack of regular football at Chelsea, having started just one Premier League game.

United recruitment chiefs will be laying the foundations for any January business early but direct links to Nkunku look to be premature. Replying to the speculation, Romano explained that talks surrounding specific players are unlikely to have taken place so quickly after Amorim’s arrival.

"I'm receiving a lot of questions on this one, about Christopher Nkunku and Manchester United,” Romano told his YouTube channel. “Stories coming from very important sources about this, so obviously we respect everyone. But my understanding is that, first of all, in terms of names, Manchester United have not even started to talk to Ruben Amorim to say, 'okay, let's go for this player, let's go for the other player in the January transfer window.'

"Why? Because now Ruben Amorim has just arrived. It's two or three days in England. Two or three days in Manchester. New club, new place. So he's adapting to everything. That means Manchester United, Ruben Amorim didn't have any meeting to discuss transfer targets with the management at this stage."

Having only arrived in the UK at the start of this week, it is unlikely Amorim has already put plans in place for any specific recruitment needs. The 39-year-old is yet to lead a training session as he awaits approval on his visa, with a full assessment of the current squad expected before focus turns to January.

United are expected to spend once the transfer window opens, however, with a squad full of players signed for Ten Hag’s system. Amorim will likely move to a back-three at Old Trafford and so a reshuffle of the squad will be needed, with left-back reinforcements also thought to be top of his early shopping list.