Manchester United have held talks with the representatives of a young Liverpool striker and the Red Devils are ‘confident’ they’ll strike an agreement to bring him to Old Trafford.

Man Utd have made a habit of securing impressive coups for their academy since INEOS took charge. The likes of Diego Leon, Ayden Heaven, Sekou Kone, Enzo Kana-Biyik and Chido Obi, to name just five, have arrived.

Heaven and Obi were both poached from Arsenal in an era where academy raids amongst ‘big six’ clubs are increasingly common.

And according to the latest fromXaccount, MUFC Academy, Man Utd now intend to raid bitter rivals Liverpool too.

They posted:?‘Understand talks have been held with the representatives of Liverpool U18 talent Vincent Joseph.

‘United are pushing strongly and are confident of landing him, having already invited him to Carrington earlier this year. One to really watch.’

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16-year-old Joseph is among the brightest prospects in Liverpool’s academy, and a switch to Man Utd would sting the Reds.

AnfieldWatchhave previously compared the wonderkid to Bayern Munich ace Jamal Musiala, while noting his ability to play as a centre-forward, No 10 or winger.

There’s rosier news on the academy raids front for Liverpool, however, and it’s thanks to the recent punishment handed down to Chelsea.

At the beginning of the week, Chelsea were handed a suspended one-year transfer ban, fined ￡10.75m, and given a nine-month academy transfer ban after admitting to historical breaches of Premier League rules primarily relating to payments to third parties.

The academy ban is already in effect and will prevent Chelsea from raiding Liverpool for ultra-talented 15-year-old Josh Abe, in what had previously been billed a ‘revenge mission’ for Liverpool snatching Rio Ngumoha in 2024.

Liverpool must still repel interest in Abe from Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid too, but the removal of Chelsea from the equation is a ‘big help’, according to the Daily Mail’sLewis Steele.

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He wrote: ‘With my Liverpool cap on, my first thought when I saw the news about Chelsea being handed an academy transfer ban this week was about Reds prospect Joshua Abe.

‘As we have reported extensively in this column over the last year, the 15-year-old is a target of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City.

‘He also was shown round Real Madrid’s Bernabeu and has signed up with the PLG Agency of Tyler Alexander-Arnold, the brother of Trent.

‘Chelsea are currently out of that race because of their ban, however, which is a big help for Liverpool’s case to keep him, though others still loom large.’

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