At the age of 26, most would have expected Eric Bailly to have firmly established himself in the Manchester United starting XI by now.

After all, the Ivorian defender enjoyed an extremely impressive first season at Old Trafford following his move from Villarreal in 2016.

Now though, Bailly finds himself down the pecking order at Old Trafford and linked with a move to Serie A giants Inter Milan, who are reportedly monitoring his situation according to Eurosport.

It might now be time for the Red Devils to cut the defender adrift.

Since that fantastic first season under Jose Mourinho, Bailly has made just 44 starts for Manchester United in the four seasons since.

A number of injury issues, as well as the respective arrivals of Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire have seen his opportunities at the club dwindle and his starts decrease season upon season.

Indeed, he is currently not available having contracted COVID-19 so is self-isolating in the Ivory Coast.

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Once hailed as “immense” by Solskjaer, it now appears that the Norwegian can simply not rely on the defender for fitness or performances on a regular basis. With the Red Devils’ boss also intending to sign another centre-back in the summer window, this would then see Bailly fall even further down the pecking order.

Considering the way in which Bailly’s transfer valuation continues to fall as he enters the final year of his Old Trafford contract, this summer might be the best time to sell.

Once rated at £31.5m, that has fallen all the way down to £13.5m – a trend that is only going to continue as his deal in Manchester continues to run down.

Couple that with his failure to really stake a claim in the Manchester United starting XI and the potential interest from Inter Milan, it all leads to a convincing argument over selling Bailly sooner rather than later.

AND in more news, a transfer update has handed Manchester United a big blow in their right-winger search...