According to French media outlet L'Equipe.
Manchester United Football Club
The imminent signing of 18-year-old Lille center back Lenny
Jolo
The player passed his medical on Wednesday and will sign a five-year contract plus a one-year option to extend clause. The transfer fee, including bonuses, totals 70 million euros.
Over the past few months, Jolo had privately expressed his desire to join Real Madrid, who were also very interested in him. But Real Madrid's bid for the player, who has only one year left on his contract, was never high, around €20 million, while United's offer was over €60 million.
Paris Saint-Germain have been pursuing Jolo since last winter, but the Lille side have not received any official offer and are unwilling to budge on their asking price. Last weekend, Lille received an offer from Manchester United for a fixed transfer fee of 62 million euros plus 8 million euros in bonuses, with a clause of 4 million euros easily reachable.
This means that Jolo's transfer will total €70 million, the second biggest deal in Lille's club history behind Nicolas Pepe's €80 million transfer to Arsenal in 2019. For an 18-year-old center-back with just 60 career appearances and only one year left on his contract, that's quite a price tag.
Some in Paris had thought that Jolo would stay at Lille until the end of his contract so that he could move to Real Madrid on a free transfer next year, but that was not in Lille's plans at all. Lille either asked Real Madrid to match United's offer or sell the player to United. In the end, Jolo chose the option that made the most sense for his career.
