That doesn\u2019t mean that United are ignoring the domestic market though, recently swooping to sign Derby County prospect Charlie Hardy<\/a>.<\/p>\n One player the club have been tracking is Sheffield Wednesday defender Yisa Alao.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Daily Mail<\/a> reported in late December that United submitted an offer worth in the region of \u00a3450,000 to sign Alao.<\/p>\n It may not be enough, with Chelsea now moving to the front of the queue.<\/p>\n Go all out for a midfielder? Make a under the radar swoop? Let us know!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n Chelsea lead race to sign Yisa Alao<\/p>\n Chelsea have now moved ahead of Manchester United in the race to sign Yisa Alao, according to The Sheffield Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is claimed Chelsea have offered a \u2018high six-figure\u2019 bid for Alao, above the \u00a3450,000 on the table from United. <\/p>\n Alao has six first team appearances to his name for the Owls, making his debut earlier this season.<\/p>\n Chelsea are also including \u2018hefty add-ons\u2019 as part of the deal. City and Liverpool have also been watching developments.<\/p>\n A deal is not concluded yet for the 17-year-old left-back, but it appears that Chelsea are the clear frontrunners now.<\/p>\n United would need to submit an improved offer to take command of the situation.<\/p>\n TalkingPoints TV: Was that the BEST Manchester Derby EVER? <\/p>\n Where does the Michael Carrick-led demolition of City rank for you?<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n Yisa Alao move did not feel like a priority<\/p>\n It is relatively cheap to take a punt on a young player, but a move for Yisa Alao never really felt like it should be a priority for United.<\/p>\n Firstly, United sent Harry Amass<\/a> out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday in the summer, who is one year older than Alao and further along in his development.<\/p>\n Amass has now returned from his loan move, with negotiations ongoing over his future<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beyond that, United also signed<\/a> left-back Diego Leon<\/a> last summer, with the teenager playing for the club\u2019s under-21 side.<\/p>\n Adding Alao into the mix might have been healthy competition, but United have two very talented prospects for the position already.<\/p>\n Chelsea no doubt have their own prospects of course, but they are prepared to pay more for Alao than United are. Time will tell if the investment is worthwhile.<\/p>\n Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United are expected to miss out on Championship prospect Yisa Alao. Over the past year, Manchester United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99,200947],"class_list":{"0":"post-420598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-yisa-alao"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Sheffield](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2255589029-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Harriet Massey\/Getty Images Imagine you are Jason Wilcox\u2026 what transfer business would you do before deadline day? <\/p>\n![\"Director](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2243595426-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Ash Donelon\/Manchester United via Getty Images <\/p>\n