Manchester United to sell midfielder James Garner with Tottenham interested

Manchester United have decided to sell England under-21 midfielder James Garner, with Tottenham leading a list of clubs interested in a player rated in the £14-20 million bracket.

The 21-year-old enjoyed an impressive loan spell in helping Nottingham Forest secure promotion last season, appearing in 41 Championship games.

Garner had hoped that a change in manager this season would allow him to finally get his United career underway under Erik ten Hag.

But, despite his team’s disastrous start to the campaign, ten Hag has kept Garner on the bench as an unused substitute in the defeats to Brighton and Brentford.

In total, Garner’s Premier League experience with United adds up to nine minutes in two substitute appearances in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, along with three Europa League starts.

That looks like being the end of the road for Garner with his boyhood club, despite the midfielder saying this summer that his preference was to stay and fight for his place at Old Trafford.

The decision to offload Garner is all the more surprising, given United’s much-publicised problems in midfield and a lack of new recruits in that area.

Talks with former Juventus star Adrien Rabiot are at an advanced stage with the fee for the French international conceivably being directly offset by the sale of Garner.

Meanwhile, young full-back Ethan Laird has joined QPR on loan for the season and midfielder Hannibal Mejbri is close to agreeing a similar deal with Birmingham.