Manchester United have agreed a deal to sign Atalanta winger Amad Traore for £27.5million, with the teenager expected to join the club in the January transfer window.
The MEN understands United have agreed to pay £19m up front, with £8.5m in add-ons, for the 18-year-old Ivory Coast winger.
The MEN revealed United were exploring a deal for Traore on September 16 and last week reported they were still working on signing the left-footed flanker, who has played just 30 minutes in Serie A.
Despite reports that Traore was set to join Parma, no move materialised and the MEN reported on Monday morning United were still attempting to finalise a deal for Traore to join them in the New Year.
United partly moved for Traore this summer before new criteria is drafted up for Premier League clubs to sign 18 to 21-year-old foreign talent post-Brexit.
The deal for Traore was described by sources in Italy as 'not straightforward' and United had issues obtaining a visa for the African talent.
Atalanta sold Traore's Under-19 teammate, Dejan Kulusevski, to Juventus for £29.7m last year and Atalanta's academy has been described as 'the best' in Italy. Kulusevski spent last season on loan at Parma and sources in Italy had warned Traore would not be cheap, despite his inexperience.
United have scouted Traore for three years and he became the youngest player, at 17 years and 109 days old, to score on his Serie A debut in Atalanta's 7-1 thrashing of Udinese last season. Traore also travelled with the squad to Lisbon for their Champions League quarter-final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in August.
United are also on the verge of signing Uruguayan winger Facundo Pellistri from Penarol. Pellistri is 18 and United want younger options as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used Juan Mata, 32, and Jesse Lingard, 27, in wide roles again at Luton Town last month.
Solskjaer is also keen for United's new flankers to hasten the development of Mason Greenwood into a centre forward. Most of Greenwood's starts have come from the right and the addition of specialist wingers would free him to play through the middle more often.