Manchester United and Chelsea are both reportedly keeping tabs on RB Leipzig’s star midfielder, Assan Ouedraogo.
The two Premier League clubs are said to have sent scouts to watch the latest German ‘wonderkid’ as he scored for Leipzig at the weekend.
The 19-year-old has exploded onto a lot of Europe’s top clubs’ radars this season after a breakout run in the Bundesliga.
Transfer News Blitz writer Taylor Stephenson takes a look at which club is most likely to land his signature.
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Who is Assan Ouedraogo?
Ouedraogo joined Leipzig in 2024 from Schalke, though his debut season was basically spent in the treatment room, with him making just five appearances due to persistent injuries.
This season, however, he has been making up for lost time. The central midfielder has kicked things off with three goals and three assists in his first 10 matches, helping Leipzig sit second in the Bundesliga (no prizes for guessing who’s in first place… again).
His form also earned him his first Germany call-up – and he marked his debut with a goal in a 6-0 demolition of Slovakia. Not a bad way to introduce yourself.
Is there room in the dressing room at Chelsea?
Chelsea loves collecting young talent the way some people collect unpaid parking tickets – aggressively, endlessly, and with no idea what to do with them once they’ve got them.
They’ll almost certainly place a bid because that’s what Chelsea do, but any young player with a functioning career plan might pause for a moment, glance at their history of ‘development’ and slowly back away from Stamford Bridge.
If you then add in the fact that their two £100m midfielders are actually playing brilliantly this season, the path to the starting line-up looks about as clear as London air.
Just the man for United?
Casemiro has been much improved for Man United this season, although let’s be fair, the bar wasn’t exactly hard to clear, now was it?
Even so, at 33, he’s not sticking around forever. And with Ruben Amorim seemingly reluctant to trust Kobbie Mainoo with regular starts, United could absolutely justify a move for a young, dynamic midfielder like Ouedraogo.
The only problem? The opposite of Chelsea. Leipzig won’t let him go for peanuts, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe is as tight as a fish’s… You get the point.
I don’t think United will be open to spending as much as someone like Chelsea and their bottomless pit of cash, so unless they can get him at a reasonable price, this might be a no-go.
The verdict
It’s early days, and this doesn’t feel like a January move. My prediction? United loan out Mainoo in January, review his progress in the summer, and then decide whether to make a push for Ouedraogo.
At which point, Bayern Munich will almost certainly appear from the shadows, swoop in, and add yet another promising youngster from one of their unofficial “feeder clubs” to the collection.
Some things in football truly never change.
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