Roma fail to reach agreement for Manchester United defender

Roma have failed in their attempts to sign Manchester United defender Daley Blind and have now switched their attention to Sporting’s Jonathan Silva, claims Gianluca Di Marzio.

Eusebio Di Francesco’s side sold Emerson Palmieri to Chelsea on Tuesday night and now need to sign another left-back before Wednesday’s transfer deadline to ease the burden on 32-year-old Aleksandar Kolarov.

Reports emerged on Tuesday suggesting Blind had been earmarked as Roma’s top transfer target but they have now been forced to move on after failing to convince United to part ways.

Blind has fallen completely out of favour under Jose Mourinho this season but the United boss has no interest in selling any players until the end of the campaign.

Roma are now targeting Sporting left-back Silva, who has also struggled to playing time this season.

The 23-year-old is firmly behind veteran defender Fabio Coentrao in the pecking order for places at Sporting, which has limited the Argentine to just six league appearances for the Portuguese giants this term.