Manchester United could’ve signed Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti, only for Jose Mourinho to pass up the chance to pursue the deal and go for Fred instead.
That’s according to a report from the Manchester Evening News, who claim Red Devils chief Ed Woodward had some ambitious transfer targets in mind last summer in the form of PSG’s Verratti and Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane.
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Verratti is one of the finest central midfield players in the world and obviously a key part of this PSG team, and the MEN claim Mourinho felt he was an unrealistic target for the club.
Still, that shouldn’t necessarily be the case for a historically big team like Man Utd, who have long attracted world class talent to Old Trafford, even in their less successful periods since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
In the end, United ended up signing Fred in that position, in what proved to be a pretty poor decision by MUFC, with the Brazil international flopping in his time in England.
Verratti could surely have been a far superior option for United in an important area of the pitch, and it seems fans have Mourinho to blame for not pushing harder to get this deal done.