It may have been a quiet transfer window for Manchester United, but Confidential understands that United were still weighing up a big-money move for a midfielder until late in January.
The financial benefits of qualifying for the Champions League are such that United had to consider if it was worth bringing in a new signing to give the team a vital push in the right direction after moving into the top-four under Michael Carrick.
Alternatively, missing out on the Champions League again would put a significant dent in the club’s finances and may impact the quality of player they can sign in the summer, while finishing outside the top-six altogether would be a huge setback to their plans.
Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace, and Brighton’s Carlos Baleba are high on United’s list of targets, with the club keen to sign at least one midfielder to replace Casemiro and, probably, Manuel Ugarte.
United insisted there would be no panic buys in January, but have always maintained that they would consider bringing forward a deal planned for the summer – as was the hope with Antoine Semenyo, who instead ended up joining Manchester City for £65m last month.
Having inquired about Baleba and Conor Gallagher, then at Atletico Madrid, late in the summer window, United kept their options open in the January transfer market as well before deciding to stick rather than twist.
Jack heads back
Dithering over whether to get a midfielder in or not continued at academy level, and it wasn’t until very late on in the window that Jack Moorhouse got the green light to return to Manchester from Leyton Orient.
Confidential understands that while Moorhouse had plenty of minutes in east London in the first half of this season, there were growing concerns that recruitment and tactics for the second half of the campaign was going to stunt his development.
Orient spent the past week trying to do their bit to keep hold of him, but United – albeit late on – sanctioned the recall of a player who was being pursued by Bolton Wanderers, Huddersfield Town and Blackpool for most of the month.
Moorhouse will drop back down to play in PL2 with Adam Lawrence’s Under-21s but is expected to frequently train with the first team, giving the 20-year-old his chance to impress Michael Carrick. Having made the first-team bench four times last season under Amorim, don’t rule out Moorhouse pushing himself into the midfield picture if anything happens to Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo or Manuel Ugarte between now and the season finale at Brighton.
Malacia mystery
It wouldn’t be deadline day without a little drama, and Tyrell Malacia provided it for United on an otherwise underwhelming conclusion to the January transfer window.
United were as surprised as anyone to see reports in Holland suggesting that Malacia was about to board a flight to Turkey to undergo a medical when he received a call from director of football Jason Wilcox informing him that the move had been aborted. Malacia, who was said to be in ‘disbelief’, was allegedly told to report back to Carrington.
The supposed transfer twist put United in a difficult position because they don’t want to be seen to be falling out with the player and his camp after Malacia returned to the first-team fold this season as the only surviving member of Ruben Amorim’s ‘bomb squad’.
But sources tell Confidential that no deal was ever agreed with a Turkish club, let alone to the point of organising a medical, and United had not made any travel plans for the 26-year-old defender.
They were reluctant to even discuss the identity of the club because any deal was so far from completion, although Malacia has previously been linked with mid-table Eyupspor. The saga is all the more odd because Malacia and his camp have been aware since Patrick Dorgu suffered a hamstring injury at Arsenal nine days ago that he would be needed to provide cover for Luke Shaw at left-back.
Malacia, who has made just one appearance for United in the last year as a 88th-minute substitute against Newcastle on Boxing Day, is now set to see out the remaining five months of his contract at Old Trafford before leaving as a free agent in the summer.
Kone’s an instant hit
Ineos-owned Lausanne Sport are absolutely over the moon at locking down Sekou Kone on loan for the remainder of the season.
The Mali midfielder has been training with Lausanne’s first team throughout January before inking a loan deal officially this week.
Coaches are understood to have been blown away by his technical level on the ball, and there is a real excitement in the building at his ball-winning ability.
The Kone loan is seen as something of a litmus test for the Lausanne-Manchester United relationship as they see how fruitful other multi-club tie-ups – looking at Chelsea and Strasbourg in particular – for young player development.
Sesko upstages Sesko
There was every reason to think Benjamin Sesko had stolen the headlines when he scored an injury-time winner against Fulham at Old Trafford. Back home in Slovenia, it turned out he wasn’t even the most popular Sesko last weekend.
All eyes were on Ziga Sesko after the 17-year-old won the junior boys’ final at the Australian Open, creating by some distance the biggest sensation in the history of Slovenian tennis.
The highest ATP ranking of any male player from the country is a modest 43 and Sesko became its first ever junior Grand Slam winner when he beat American favourite Keaton Hanse 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in Melbourne.
The story dominated news bulletins across Slovenia on Sunday and Monday, upstaging the United striker’s match-winning heroics off the bench against Fulham.
Benjamin and Ziga are distant relatives, born less than 10 miles apart in Radece and Hrastnik respectively, although the teenager’s family are still trying to trace the precise lineage.
United’s £73.7million summer signing celebrated his fourth goal in as many games, but after starting both of Darren Fletcher’s matches as caretaker and scoring three times, he has been on the bench against Manchester City, Arsenal and Fulham since Michael Carrick was put in charge until the end of the season and he decided to play Bryan Mbeumo through the middle.
Sesko, who headed against the post before swivelling in the box to score in the 94th minute, will hope that he has given Carrick some food for thought.
Carrick’s Munich tribute
When Carrick takes part in the Munich memorial service at Old Trafford on Friday, he will do so with a deep appreciation of what it means to the club.
The new head coach and women’s team boss Marc Skinner will lay a wreath at the stadium, along with captains Bruno Fernandes and Maya Le Tissier, in tribute to those who lost their lives in the tragedy on February 6, 1958.
Carrick’s association with United goes back to his signing in the summer of 2006, and one of his 24 career goals for the club came in a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on the 50th anniversary in February 2008 when both teams wore retro kits at Old Trafford.
Recalling the occasion in his autobiography, Carrick wrote: ‘I saw all the fans hold up their red-and-white scarves, some clutched pictures of the Busby Babes, and I had goosebumps just taking it all in. Like me, the fans feel a responsibility to carry on the memory. All of it adds to the aura of Manchester United.
‘The derby wasn’t about the game, it wasn’t about football, it wasn’t about rivalry. It was much bigger than all of that. I came on and scored but it meant nothing because we lost and, in truth, the emotion of the occasion was too much.’
Reds’ help for refugees
Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club are ready to head to Jordan during Ramadan as part of a charity drive to help Palestinian refugee communities.
Seventeen members of the group will spend three days in two of Jordan’s largest Palestinian refugee camps at the end of this month where they will play friendly football matches, provide coaching sessions for orphan children via a UEFA-licensed coach, put on Iftar gatherings and also make cash donations to those in need.
They are aiming to raise £100,000 in fundraising, including covering the yearly costs for a year to help many of the orphan children they encounter.
On your bike, Zac!
And finally, United fan Zac Knight is embarking on a mammoth journey from his home in Surrey, all the way to Old Trafford, on his bike as he cycles 230 miles to raise money for Young Epilepsy. Knight and his family got to meet Rasmus Hojlund last year as part of their fundraising efforts and the youngster is back now for his latest United-related challenge.