Fabrizio Romano has provided an update on Manchester United star Hannibal Mejbri amid links to Rangers.
The 21-year-old Tunisian international has been at Old Trafford since he was 16-years-old but now looks set to be heading out the door at the famous old stadium.
Rangers were strongly linked with Mejbri last week but over the last few days or so Gers fans have been nervously awaiting an update on any deal.
Now it appears that there has been some movement on Hannibal Mejbri’s future with Romano namedropping Rangers and giving a timeline over the attacking midfielder’s future.
Mejbri set for ‘permanent’ transfer
Hannibal Mejbri started his youth footballing career in France before moving to Manchester United as a teenager.
According to reports from the Standard at the time, back in 2019 the Red Devils signed a deal worth up to €10m (£8.4m) to bring the kid to England.
But after five years with the club, it now looks like Mejbri is about to move on with Fabrizio Romano claiming a permanent transfer out of United beckons.
At the same time, Romano has branded Rangers’ interest in Mejbri as ‘genuine’.
“Yeah I think there will be some more exits,” Romano told Caught Offside’s The Debrief podcast when asked about Man United’s transfer activity.
“For example Hannibal Mejbri will be out, I think, in the next days.
“They want to sell him on a permanent transfer and there is genuine interest from Rangers.”
Man Utd midfielder meets player trading mandate
Hannibal Mejbri certainly fits Rangers’ ambitions in player trading with the 21-year-old previously considered one of the brightest talents at Manchester United.
But the idea that Rangers would need to strike a permanent transfer to sign the forward will certainly turn a few heads.
Ibrox chairman John Bennett has been speaking about the club’s ’long-term’ transfer strategy in an address to supporters and it’s clear signing young talents is high up on the agenda.
But with Rangers already splashing £11.5m since Clement came in the door, Gers fans will be left wondering about the types of fees involved in any deal to bring Hannibal to Glasgow.
“If you’re really serious about building – and I’ve heard it a lot – and again it frustrates me as much as it frustrates every Rangers supporter is this fabled, almost mythical player trading model.
“It’s not up and running, I don’t see it, that would be an accurate observation and criticism.
“Imperative two, if you are going to build a truly sustainable, operating player trading model having fixed the line above it, the pre-player trading losses.
“If you are going to be serious about doing that then you’re going to have to invest in player recruitment for the long-term as well as the short-term.
“That’s a really challenging route to navigate and it’s not done in one window.
“I like to think that people can see the complexion of this window has long-term in it as well as short-term.”
Hannibal Mejbri was part of the Manchester United squad for the recently friendly with Rangers at Murrayfield and played in the clash in Edinburgh.
The 27-times capped Tunisia midfielder has made 13 appearances in total for United and has enjoyed loan spells at Birmingham City & Sevilla in recent seasons.
