Liverpool fended off interest from Manchester United when they signed Darwin Nunez. But it's a transfer that now looks to have hindered their rivals more than originally thought.
The Reds agreed a deal potentially worth up to £85million with Benfica for the striker last month. One of their biggest foes were also in the hunt for Nunez, but in the end, he chose Liverpool.
Had he gone to United, the 23-year-old would likely have had to play second fiddle to Cristiano Ronaldo. However, reports on Saturday night from a variety of well-placed sources claimed that the Portuguese international has now requested to leave after just one season back at Old Trafford.
And following on from that, it has now been reported that United's stance on Nunez may have been different had they not mistakenly believed Ronaldo wanted to stay. Journalist Sam Pilger has said the Red Devils may have "pushed harder" to beat Liverpool to the signing of the Benfica man if they had known Ronaldo wanted to go.
While another report from The Athletic's Laurie Whitwell says that United were working on the belief that Ronaldo was staying for the upcoming season. This led to the decision to "leave Liverpool" to go and sign Nunez.
Nunez was Reds manager Jurgen Klopp's top transfer target for this summer - and the club made sure the deal got done as quickly as possible. Sporting director Julian Ward flew out to Portugal to thrash out negotiations with Benfica over a deal for the forward.
Wiuaemopr
40
I really don't whether Manchester United fans have discovered the trick the Manchester United top board uses to avoid buying the players the manager wants and end up buying players the board wants coz they bring in much revenue which is the priority for the board and directors of the club. Let me explain it to you now. During the transfer window, Manchester United board will try to link many players to the club and even open talks for some players (including the Manager's priority players). This is intended to show United fans and the manager that they are serious. They do it intentionally to drag on the talks with the players the manager wants but no significant progress. When the transfer window is about to end they sign a players who were not in the Manager's plan( after intentionally missing out on the Manager's priority players) because they bring in much revenue to the club and also renew and extend contracts of current players so as to increase their market value even if they played rubbish during the season. This was the case with Koulobly but instead brought in Maguire. Same case with Camaviga, halaand same case Diaz etc. The board intentionally drags the talks so as to show the fans and the manager that they tried but in actual sense they never wanted the player and also other clubs to counter bid the player, just in the case of Nunez where United were the first to bid for him and waited until a rival club like Liverpool came for him. This is done intentionally but Manchester United fans can't read the signs.🤣🤣😂😂😂This will be the case with De Jong and many other players the manager wants. Many clubs have already signed players who were free agents but Manchester United to show the fans and the manager that they are doing something they sent scouts to the Denmark game to scout Erikson😂😂😂😂. Erikson has passed the stage of being scouted but the board knows how to play around with the supporters minds. They got rid of Mourinho and Rangnick coz they had exposed them. Manchester United will only return to it's glory days when a new owner takes over. Someone who is pro football not profits oriented.