Manchester United are reported to have reached an agreement to sign teenage midfielder Sekou Kone as part of the club’s “long-term plans”.

United have moved with a clear strategy in the transfer market this summer, landing Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui to boost first-team depth and competition.

18-year-old Leny Yoro has also been recruited at significant cost, good enough to start immediately (when fit), but equally young enough to give a decade or more to United. Prolific 16-year-old Chido Obi Martin has been poached from Arsenal’s academy for his potential to become a superstar and Kone, 18, now looks as though he will arrive in Manchester after being scouted in his native Mali.

Fabrizio Romano reports that United have beaten a few other sides to Kone, having been identified by “several clubs” as a talent worth chasing.

Kone was part of the hugely impressive Mali squad that finished third at last year’s Under-17 World Cup, thumping Canada, Mexico and Argentina along the way.

The capture of Kone from Guidars FC, a club in Mali with a track record of developing players who then head to Europe, is indicative of the influence of Christopher Vivell at United.

The former Chelsea technical director was added to the new-look sporting department on a short-term basis this summer to assist with recruitment. Vivell was formerly head of scouting and then head of recruitment at Red Bull Salzburg, before joining RB Leipzig as technical director.

Guidars is the exact type of club, in football’s lesser known markets, that Salzburg have typically done business with. The Austrian side have made a habit of unearthing raw talent, particularly from Africa, and Moussa Yeo and Dorgeles Nene are two current Salzburg players signed from Guidars.

In going straight to the source themselves, United appear to effectively cutting out the middle man, with clubs like Salzburg and Leipzig usually finding the talent and selling it on at sizeable profit.

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