Man Utd not put off by £45m star who 'slept in late and rarely gave 100 per cent'

Manchester United have honed in on former Evertonstriker Moise Kean in their hunt for a striker. The 25-year-old built up a reputation for sleeping in and being late during his last Premier League stint.

Ruben Amorim's side are in need of bolstering a forward line that managed the fifth-worst goal output in the top flight last season, and with Viktor Gyokeres seemingly on his way to rivals Arsenal, sights have had to shift elsewhere.

Ex-Juventusstriker Kean, who began his career with the Old Lady before joining Marco Silva's Toffees in 2019 for roughly £30million and returning by way of several loan spells, is now a Fiorentinaplayer and seems to have turned a corner.

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The Italian arrived in Florence last summer for just over £15m and proved to be a revelation, scoring 25 goals in all competitions, 19 of which came in Serie A. His current contract has a £45m release clause, and the Red Devils are supposedly interested, irrespective of the attitude Kean showed the last time he played for an English club.

According to The Athletic, United are keen on activating striker Kean's £45m release clause, but only have until July 15 to decide on the matter, as that is when it expires.

The club are seemingly not put off by Kean's past antics, as after his £30m Everton move in 2019, it was reported that the Italian would turn up late for team meetings after sleeping in, and produce sub-par training performances.

Kean scored just four goals in 39 appearances for the Toffees and was also found to have breached lockdown rules in 2020 when he held a party at his Cheshire apartment. He was later fined two weeks' wages.

Speaking last year about his time in the Premier League, Kean also made an admission about the English weather that could throw another wrench into a prospective United move.

"I was in England, it was a new environment… They were so used to not seeing the sun, they were barbecuing on the beach in winter," he stated. "They were in short sleeves in winter. I said to myself: 'These people are out of their minds!'

"But England made me learn a lot about myself. I matured a lot. When I got there I didn't play much. I used to think, 'How am I not getting into this team, at Everton?'

"Mentally, it made me evolve. I wasn't playing and it was in dark times that I knew I had to grit my teeth. Then the chance to go to PSG (on loan) came along. I moved there and got everything out of myself that I could. I wasn't playing at Everton and I knew I had to give triple. That's how it went."

Kean indicated that he has turned over a new leaf since his inexperienced years at Goodison Park, adding: "I was a bit unlucky. I went there expecting to play a bit more. I was 19.

"I joined from Juve and thought I was going to smash it. Unfortunately, it didn't go like that. We went through three coaches that year and mentally… it was all new for me. Out of all the experiences I've had, you won't ever hear me say I had a bad one. I find positives in all of them."

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