Manchester United failed to sign Mikayil Faye from Barcelona, as per the player’s agent.
United seemingly prioritised strengthening their backline this summer, having spent more than €100m to acquire Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt from Lille and Bayern Munich respectively.
While supporters on social media appear delighted with United signing De Ligt, who scored against Southampton over the weekend, and Yoro, it remains unclear if both centre-backs were the recruitment team’s preferred options.
Much has been written about United’s unsuccessful pursuit of Jarrad Branthwaite over the summer, as Everton refused to part ways with their young defender despite multiple bids from the Mancunian giants.
Now, it has emerged the Old Trafford outfit were also knocked back in their attempts to bring in Faye.
Speaking on the Inkubator podcast (via Goal), Faye’s agent Andy Bara revealed United expressed interest in the 20-year-old.
However, the player was not very open to the idea of moving to the Theatre of Dreams due to doubts over his development.
He said: “Manchester United were interested in Faye, but he didn’t like that option. He wasn’t a regular at Barcelona, so what did it matter if he hadn’t had the same at United? His development wouldn’t have progressed at all.”
Bara suggested that the Catalan outfit also adopted a hard stance during negotiations for Faye, as they were only open to selling him with a buy-back clause in any deal.
Eventually, French side Rennes found an agreement with Barca to sign the player by including a €30 million buy-back clause.
It remains to be seen if United would revisit their interest in Faye in the future. However, The Peoples Person recently relayed a report suggesting the club’s hierarchy plans to sign a new defender next summer.
Further, United are “expected to continue tracking” Branthwaite.
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