Ole Gunnar Solskjaer prioritised 3 blockbuster signings ahead of Adrien Rabiot

Manchester United are now targeting free agent Adrien Rabiot, four years after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer coveted brighter stars instead of the Frenchman.

That’s according to reports that suggest Rabiot rejected a range of offers from the likes of Galatasaray and the Saudi Pro League over the international break to keep his hopes of signing for a European club alive.

A deal for the midfielder was close to being finalised during Erik ten Hag's first window at the helm in 2022 before Rabiot pulled the plug. Two years prior, a potential move for the midfielder was also on the cards, only for Solskjaer to cast his net in a different direction.

Jadon Sancho, who would eventually join the Red Devils in 2021 for £73million, Jack Grealish, and Jude Bellingham were all supposedly preferred over the French ace. Had all three of those deals come off, Solskjaer may have steered United in a very different direction to how things ended up for the Norwegian.

Fast forward to the present day and, ccording to the Daily Star, United will hold talks with Rabiot in due course as they finally look to land a target who has been endlessly linked with a switch to Old Trafford.

Rabiot first appeared on United's agenda during Solsjkaer's time in charge, with rumours suggesting that contracts were being offered to the star as early as 2019.

In 2020, however, a report by the MEN revealed that instead of pursuing a deal for the midfielder, the English trio of Sancho, Grealish, and Bellingham would instead be United's top priority.

Two years later, Rabiot came the closest he's ever been to becoming a United player after contracts were agreed upon and a £15m fee nailed down.

However, Rabiot chose to swerve a potential move to Old Trafford, and personal terms were never finalised. Thus, the versatile midfielder remained in Italy until his contract expired this July.

Things now seem to have come full circle, as Rabiot is currently without a club and reportedly set to negotiate with United once again. Had Solskjaer gotten his way, current Galactico Jude Bellingham could have to one controlling the team's spine.

Of the three players the club's former Norwegian boss reportedly chose to target four years ago, only Borussia Dortmund's Sancho was secured, and it took the club another year to seal a pricey deal - all for the winger to produce very little in a United shirt and leave on loan to Chelsea this summer.

Grealish also waited another campaign before he made the marquee switch to Manchester, though he ended up at rivals Manchester City. After crafting a talismanic name for himself with boyhood Aston Villa, Pep Guardiola's side snapped up the then-25-year-old for a British transfer record of £100m in the summer of 2021.

Solskjaer had earmarked Grealish the previous summer but couldn't tempt the star away from Villa Park with as much tenacity as his side's rivals. His plea to seal a deal for Bellingham also fell on deaf ears.

United's interest arose when the diamond was still unpolished at Birmingham City. Instead of moving to Old Trafford at the age of 17, Bellingham opted to hone his craft in Germany with Dortmund, a move that has paid dividends.

Now a leading star on one of Europe's biggest stages with Real Madrid - and starring for England - Bellingham’s career path may have looked very different had Solskjaer got his wish, and a reignited deal for Rabiot this window may not have been necessary at all.