Cody Gakpo has ended up agreeing a move to Liverpool in this January’s transfer window, but it seems Manchester United were also exploring the deal.
The Netherlands international impressed at PSV and was also one of the stand-out performers for his country at the recent World Cup, so it’s not too surprising that there was plenty of interest in him ahead of January.
According to The Athletic, Man Utd actually held talks with Kees Vos, chief executive of SEG, the agency representing both Gakpo and Red Devils manager Erik ten Hag, at their Carrington training complex in the last fortnight.
Still, the report states that United ultimately decided they could not afford the 23-year-old in this transfer window, and Liverpool have now taken full advantage.
The Athletic suggest Virgil van Dijk was key to helping Liverpool convince Gakpo to join, while the injuries to Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota affected Jurgen Klopp’s thinking.
This looks like it should end up being fine business by Liverpool, but MUFC will surely live to regret not doing more to beat their biggest rivals to such a top talent.
United don’t win trophies so why would a top player want to go there? Ten Hag is a relative nobody and the owners dysfunctional.
Gakpo knows exactly who Ten Hag is and would be a United player already if the club had done business properly during the Summer. Instead they stalled and waited soo long they had to pay a premium to Ajax