Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Morgan Schneiderlin has asked to leave Manchester United, with West Bromwich Albion leading the race to sign the midfielder after lodging a £13 million bid.
Schneiderlin, a £24m signing from Southampton in July 2015, has failed to start a Premier League game for United this season and has not appeared at all since making a substitute appearance against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Nov. 19.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman is also keen to sign Schneiderlin, having worked with the Frenchman at Southampton.
But with the transfer window due to open on Jan. 1, United manager Mourinho has said that he is willing to sell the player following talks between the pair.
“He is a great professional, a fantastic boy, very honest and open,” Mourinho said. “He opened his heart to me a couple of times and my answer is simple.
“If he was playing regularly with me, I have the right to say no way. But if he is not playing, I have no right to say you are going nowhere.
“My answer was that, if the offer is right and the board thinks it’s a good offer in relation to quality of a very good player like Morgan, I wouldn’t stop him going.”
Schneiderlin is not expected to figure in the matchday squad for Monday’s home game against Southampton, with Memphis Depay, another Everton target, also likely to miss out.
Meanwhile, West Brom manager Tony Pulis confirmed the club had made bids for several players but declined to discuss names.
“We have made bids for four or five players, we won’t talk about them today. We will talk about them if we get them.” he said.
“I don’t want to go into it specifically, doing deals and business with people you should deal directly with them. Once they are done you can talk about them more openly. That’s the way I prefer to conduct my business.
“We’ll be spending a bit of money left over from the previous window, then moving on from there. They are very keen to keep the club running financially positively. They feel they can if they manage it properly.”
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