Manchester United are reported to have once missed out on the transfer of James Maddison on the cheap.
The Leicester City attacking midfielder is currently one of the finest players in the Premier League, having been immense since his move to the King Power Stadium last season.
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This has led to reports from the likes of the Daily Star linking Maddison with Man Utd and suggesting he could cost as much as £80million.
It remains to be seen if the England international will eventually end up at Old Trafford, but it seems he’s already come close once before.
Maddison was with Coventry City earlier in his career but had to leave as the club looked to sell players to ease their financial issues.
And according to Ian McGarry on the Transfer Window Podcast, this led him to inform United of his availability for as little as £5m.
Clearly, it seems MUFC weren’t interested, and the rest is history!
“For two minutes I’m going to go all Arsene Wenger here because when Maddison was in the process of leaving Coventry City because the club’s financial crisis meant they had to sell their best players, Maddison even then was considered one of the best players,” McGarry said.
“I contacted someone I knew at Manchester United in their recruitment department and said look you’re going to get a bargain here, this guy’s going to be a huge player in the future and he’s available for around £5m and he’s also a Manchester United fan.
“They didn’t take any notice. Manchester United could have had Maddison four years ago.
“In saying that, there’s no guarantee he would have developed the way he did at Norwich and then Leicester.”