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Are you serious, INEOS? Man Utd set up transfer that will stun sister club
Tom Weber
- Updated: 26 Nov 2025 17:19 GMT
- 4 min read
News
Manchester United are planning to loan Diego Leon to sister club OGC Nice, according to a report.
The Paraguay international is expected to temporarily depart Old Trafford in the January transfer window after not getting any first-team opportunities under Ruben Amorim.
Signed in the spring, Leon has been with Man Utd since the summer. The 18-year-old is said to have impressed club chiefs, including Amorim, in training, but the Portuguese nevertheless feels that the left-back is not ready for Premier League action yet.
Despite this, the teenager made his senior Paraguay debut in October, and he has certainly got a taste for international football now. He wants to be part of his country's World Cup squad next summer and feels that he needs to play first-team football to become a shoo-in for the tournament.
Leon is open to leaving Man Utd in January, and it seems that the Red Devils will not stand in his way. According to Cesar Luis Merlo, a January exit has already been greenlit.
Leon on his way to Nice
No final decision on his next club has been made yet, but the journalist reports that Man Utd would favour a loan move to INEOS sister club Nice, which is perhaps a bit of a surprise.
That is because the Ligue 1 outfit have been incredibly frustrated with INEOS' ownership in recent months. After a year-long hiatus due to both clubs competing in the Europa League, INEOS has nominally been in charge of Nice again since the summer.
However, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and company do not have any boots on the ground, and the British billionaire has made no secret of the fact that he cares very little about the French club.
Although Nice did well when left to their own devices last season, this term is proving to be a different beast after a hugely frustrating summer, the blame for which has been partly placed at the feet of INEOS and Man Utd.
Nice's sporting director Florian Maurice has revealed that he approached Man Utd in the summer, seeking to loan some first-teamers. However, the English club responded dismissively and instead offered unproven academy talent, which Nice rejected as they felt the players in question weren't yet good enough for elite football.
It has since been claimed that the players Nice wanted to loan were Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo. A move for the former would probably not have been successful, given that the Dane wanted a permanent exit, but Mainoo, who was and remains keen on a loan, would have been attainable.
Nice would be forgiven to feel that Man Utd's willingness to loan them Leon now is a case of too little, too late. Nice are languishing in ninth in the Ligue 1 table and are second from bottom in the Europa League after losing all four of their games so far.
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