Manchester United to hand Barcelona target fresh terms

Manchester United are poised to reward Victor Lindelof with a new long-term deal to reflect his growing importance, claims The Daily Mirror.

Lindelof has three years left to run on his current United deal but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sees the Sweden international as Harry Maguire’s long-term partner at centre-back.

The 25-year-old endured a challenging start to life at Old Trafford but made rapid improvements in his second season at the club.

Lindelof was even linked with a move to Barcelona earlier this summer and now United want to secure his long-term future.

The Red Devils are even prepared to double his current £75,000-a-week wages to tie him down for the foreseeable future.

United paid more than £30m to sign Lindelof from Benfica during the summer of 2017 but the centre-back went on to make just 13 league starts in his first season.

Lindelof appeared to struggle with the speed and physicality of the Premier League and there were doubts whether he would be given a second year at the club.

However, the Swede became a pillar of United’s defence and made 29 league starts last term and the hope is he will now form a formidable partnership with summer signing Maguire.

Of players that have started at least 10 league matches for United since August 2017, only one player has a better pass success rate than Lindelof (89.7%).