Man Utd & Chelsea given Eliaquim Mangala boost as Monaco eye Liverpool target Kurt Zouma

MANCHESTER UNITED and Chelsea have been given a pursuit in their attempts to sign Porto's Eliaquim Mangala with the defender's reluctance to move to France forcing Monaco to turn their attentions to Liverpool target Kurt Zouma.

     Eliaquim Mangala favours a move to England [GETTY]
 

Monaco are ready to meet Mangala's £42m release clause in January but reports in France suggest that the 22-year-old is ready to spurn the offer amid interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.
According to Le10Sport, Mangala's agent, Jorge Mendes, is working hard to convince the player of the merits of a move to Monaco, having previously negotiated the deals that saw Radamel Falcao and Joao Moutinho join Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev's project.
But the player has serious concerns about the lack of atmosphere at Monaco's home games, and it believed to favour a move to England for that reason.

  Mangala has concerns about the crowds at Monaco [GETTY]

Monaco will turn to Kurt Zouma with Eliaquim Mangala preferring a move to England

And that could spell bad news for Liverpool, with Monaco sporting director Vadim Vassilyev ready to turn his attentions to Kurt Zouma instead.
Saint-Etienne are thought to be somewhat resigned to losing Zouma in January, and Liverpool were though to be monitoring the prodigious 18-year-old.
Both United and Chelsea were also linked with a move for Zouma, and whilst both are thought to prefer Mangala, whichever club misses out on the latter could join the Principality side in the race for the next-best thing in Zouma.

      Zouma [GETTY]