Manchester United must still reach an agreement with Lecce for defender Patrick Dorgu after talks in Milan on Tuesday.
United director of football negotiations Matt Hargreaves met with agents Frank Trimboli and Leon Angel, as well as Lecce president Sticchi Damiani.
“We have explained to Manchester that at the moment our will is to try to keep our workforce unchanged and keep all the big players, especially Dorgu,” Damiani said.
The left winger is one of the options United have explored to strengthen their squad, with manager Ruben Amorim poised to give Antony the green light to join Real Betis on loan.
Twenty-year-old Dorgu is 1.80 meters tall, has four caps for Denmark and can also play as a winger.
United had initially targeted Nuno Mendes at Paris Saint-Germain, but that was always going to be a difficult deal due to the costs. Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez was also considered but again would not be sold cheaply.
Amorim is keen to strengthen his options before taking on players against United versus Rangers in the Europa League and still in the FA Cup on Thursday.
The terms of Antony's departure to Betis have been agreed outright, but details are still to be finalized as Amorim evaluates what he needs to work on in the future.
Dorgu's contract with Serie A side Lecce expires in 2029.
He started his youth career at Copenhagen-based Husum Boldklub before moving to Nordsjaelland's youth academy.
In 2022 he signed for Lecce and a year later was promoted to the senior team, where he made his debut in the Coppa Italia in August 2023.
Since then he has developed into a regular in the first team. He has started all of Lecce's league matches this season except one, which he missed due to a red card.
In September he made his debut for Denmark against Switzerland and scored his first international goal with his first touch after just 42 seconds.
Comments